All His Colors
by sileavatar
Summary: [Post Jinchuu]: COMPLETE. Himura Kaoru has always said that she doesn't care about his past. Now, his darker side is one that the ex-hitokiri desperately wants to blot out. As events surrounding them awaken the amber eyes again and again, the couple must discover exactly what will keep his shadows at bay, bracing themselves for tumultuous battles emerging from within and without.
1. Chapter 1 - The Awakening

**_AN:_** _I was so happy to rediscover Rurouni Kenshin, the manga that I loved the most as a child. It seems to get better with time, and as an adult I could better appreciate the historical and psychological undertones that makes the story an incredibly complex and rich work of art. So I couldn't help but dream up stories to continue the lives of their vibrant characters._

 _This is my first fanfiction, written in collaboration with Chichanz. Hope you enjoy._

 _4/19/18: Edited to flesh out the scenes & be more reflective of the tone in later chapters._

* * *

 **Chapter 1 - The Awakening**

"Mmm…" with dreamy eyes partially closed, an auburn-haired swordsman watched his beautiful young wife bent over a pile of freshly fluffed sheets. She patted down the soft covers of their clean white futon before moving on to the clothes, working at a steady and leisurely pace as though cherishing her mundane task.

Kaoru had insisted on taking over her dutiful husband's signature chore for the day to let him get some rest. So, there he was, sitting outside on the patio on a pleasant summer night, enjoying the slight breeze twirling his bangs. The clear liquid in his teacup was no longer steaming. On its surface, the full moon's reflection beamed, showing-off its perfect symmetry.

The steadily rising heat of recent days signaled that it had been a few months since they'd made their vows on one particularly blooming spring day, and the pair had happily settled down in the dojo afterwards.

Kenshin let out a small sigh. Life couldn't have been better, spending both waking and sleeping hours next to the woman he loved more than life itself. It felt like the times of strife could finally be put far behind them, giving a chance for the blossoming rosiness of two destined soulmates to mature and bear sweet fruit.

Yet, predictably, the world outside hadn't really changed.

His gaze began to shift focus.

* * *

 _A week ago:_

Red hair swayed in the wind as the former rurouni walked down a familiar path leading towards the market, one pole slung over his shoulder, balancing two buckets. He was whistling a tune of indeterminate origin, which may have once been sung by a woman who worked the fields on clear blue days before a wave of cholera had passed over their village.

He reached a wide street that was flanked by rows of shops, the scene a riot of colors from the people and wares it contained. His favorite tofu vendor had moved to a larger stall towards the far end of the junction, so he had to walk just a bit further this time. A cacophony of noises surrounded him, with shopkeepers shouting over each other to entice customers inside. In spite of it all, he didn't fail to notice the crash of broken bottles coming all the way from the other end of the road. A ripple of panic started to spread down the boulevard.

He quickened his pace to see what was happening, but the sheer number of people running his way impeded him. There were screams now, and sounds of bodies unceremoniously crashing into wooden structures. Judging by the approximate source of the fuss, some disgruntled men had likely picked fights outside a restaurant in broad daylight. Someone knocked the buckets and pole off his shoulders. It was fine, he thought, since it freed him to move without restraint.

When Kenshin got to a break in the crowd, he glimpsed a small child taking the full impact of a large bottle on his face. The boy fell backwards onto the road, glass shattering on his head cutting into him. Four brawling men were still bellowing their faces red and throwing objects in indiscriminate directions, seemingly oblivious to the collateral damage they had just caused. Just then, a rumble approached from behind that sent the pebbles around their sandals reverberating. "Everyone, get out of the way!" a shrill voice warned urgently.

Kenshin glimpsed a carriage speeding through the thinning crowd at full speed. The rowdy men began running in opposite directions but the bleeding child was still crying in the middle of the road, and the galloping horses didn't have time to stop.

Caught between trying to subdue careless grousers and saving a helpless young one, Kenshin made the obvious choice. He leapt, ducking low to sweep up the boy in one neat motion, just seconds before pounding hooves trampled them. His momentum was far in excess of the width of the street, and as he braced for impact he held the boy tight in his hands. They rolled and crashed into a cart of straw hats, with Kenshin using his body as a shield. "Ororo…" The former rurouni's eyes turned swirly.

"Gasp! Are you two alright? Hang on, we can get some help!" The cart's owner exclaimed from their left.

Being only mildly scuffed, Kenshin was about to politely thank and decline the old man when he detected an anomaly in the small body lying in his arms. The boy wasn't breathing. A glass shard must have driven itself into the little one's brain in the split second that they had rolled on the ground.

"Shotaro? Shotaro! Oh, thank heavens you've got him!" A woman, likely the child's mother, scrambled to a full sprint towards them. Kenshin's heart sank. While the woman was reaching for her son with a look of pure relief and gushing gratitude, the swordsman's throat had turned into a choking lump of stone. Her expression soon changed when she beheld the sight of her boy.

Her inconsolable cries pierced the blue sky.

Kenshin hung his head as he stood over the grieving mother, deaf to the shouts and murmurs of people swirling around them and the police whistles that rang all around.

"This one is sorry for your loss, ma'am," he quietly said, knowing full well it wouldn't do her any good. Like a fading wisp he threaded through the crowd.

Soon enough, the four ex-samurai who started the ruckus would be apprehended and face harsh penalties for property damage and inadvertently injuring eight people, including the little boy. None of that mattered. A child's life was still needlessly lost that day, slipping through his fingers like sand to the wind.

* * *

"Kyaah!"

Kaoru's sudden cry startled him out of his reverie. A strong gust had sent the loose clothes flying, throwing a billowing swath of fabric over her face and shoulders. Kaoru waged war with Mother Nature to reclaim what was theirs and when victory was hers, she turned to glance his way with a mix of exasperation and embarrassment, laughing a little. He smiled back reflexively. The brunette shook her head, then set about collecting and folding the rest of the sheets.

As soon as her back was turned, Kenshin's smile faltered. He hadn't told her what happened at the market that bright sunny day. Neither did he mention the instances in the weeks and months prior, when he had jumped into an alley to chase some teenaged youths away from the broken pulp of their peer, nor when he had dived from a bridge to catch the deliberate fall of an orphaned young woman about to be sold into slavery.

He had kept all these things to himself, because the last thing that Kaoru needed now is for her bright new life to be sullied by any more violence.

Inside him, an old murky darkness began to well up. It was a feeling all too familiar and one he could never bring to welcome in their years of acquaintance.

 _Perhaps I should go back to the forest to release my Ki,_ he though _t_.

In the past, Kenshin would have slipped away to the bamboo grove in early mornings before nary another soul stirred. But recently, he had been rather… occupied. Waking up next to a breathtaking wife on the heels of ten long abstinent years marked by aching solitude made it that much harder to tear himself away just to brood alone. Besides, he's happy now isn't he? Why should he entertain his old demons?

Finishing the last of the laundry pieces, Kaoru caught Kenshin's gaze still directed at her. Smiling sweetly, she collected their clothes and stood up sauntering towards him. She planted a little kiss on his temple, drawing a genuine smile to his lips.

Yes, he was happy, and home right by her side. Kenshin wrapped his arm around the slender waist of his wife and they adjourned to their bedroom for the night.

The moon waned overhead and a soundless breeze blew through the starry sky to close their evening, accompanied by a song of cicadas in the background.

* * *

 _Midnight:_

Cerulean blue eyes shot open at the sound of heart-wrenchingly pained groans. Kaoru whipped her head around, realizing that it was coming from her husband who now sat up on their futon, head in hands. _Is he having nightmares again?_

"Kenshin, are you alright?!"

Instinctively she reached her hand out to him in concern, then let out an audible gasp.

Two unmistakably amber orbs stared piercingly back at her as the flame-haired figure sucked in ragged breaths with much difficulty. She recoiled back in fear, heart pounding. Her movement caused him to flinch and a certain look crossed his face, prompting him to get up hurriedly before stumbling out the door.

"Kenshin!" She chased after him, catching his sleeves.

"Let me _go_ , I can't be here _like_ _this_ ," he said urgently, darkened eyes flashing at her. With a tug, the cloth was freed of her hand and he was off, leaping over their dojo wall easily once he regained stable footing.

Kaoru fell to the floor on their porch, stunned. Her throat was dry, eyes suddenly teary, and a bolt of panic seized her chest. "Kenshin... wait... come back!" she cried to the wind. It took just another second before she snapped out of her momentary paralysis, knowing she couldn't just sit still. Grabbing a lantern and jacket along with her wooden bokken, she set out in haste.

The raven-haired fighter sped through all their familiar paths: along the river, across the bridge, and through the market streets, calling out his name, hoping to catch a glimpse of red hair in the darkness. She back-tracked through the same paths once more in case she happened to miss him the first time around, but her beloved was nowhere in sight.

She considered waking Yahiko who was staying at the Akabeko to recruit him in the search, but immediately squelched the thought. It seemed wrong to bother him so suddenly at this hour, and besides, she felt a twinge of shame for being unable to handle this on her own. He was _her_ _husband_ after all. She couldn't go running to everyone else when the two of them should've been able to sort things out together first.

Dejected and exhausted from her panicked sprints, Kaoru returned to the dojo. Sleep was out of the option, so she would just have to wait until morning before continuing her search again. She clenched her fists.

She would bring him back no matter what.

* * *

Within minutes of leaving the dojo, the ex-hitokiri Battousai had forged a path deep into the bamboo forest, stopping at its center. Closing his eyes, he gathered the embers of his Ki to let out a roaring scream, releasing every ounce of pent-up energy in one spectacular blast. Promptly, the landscape changed around him, bamboo shoots and leaves torn asunder by his outburst whirling sharply in the air. The force drained from his body like steam seeping through vents, and as soon as the darkness had been unleashed, he collapsed to the ground. Scattered leaves drifting through the air landed with a hush on his back.

* * *

Dawn broke, bringing shafts of light creeping from the edge of the grove. Its touch illuminated a cross scar peeking through curtains of red and green.

Kenshin awoke with a start, realizing he was blanketed by nature instead of tucked under warm sheets next to his slumbering wife. A dull ache throbbed in his mind, sparing no recollection of having left home. Confused and disoriented, the ex-rurouni brought one foot in front of the other to trek back towards the dojo through the riverside path, where a still-panicked Kaoru found him. The bags under her eyes were dark and puffy. Alarmed, he reached out to put his arms around her.

"Kaoru? What happened?"

She did not reject his advance, which at the very least was a good sign. She hugged him back firmly, then cupped his face and looked up into his eyes. They were pure amethyst.

"You are back," she sniffled, relieved, as she buried herself in his chest. He pulled her in tighter, before releasing her slightly to look at her face. "Kaoru..." he started, the question in his tone.

She looked down, apparently disturbed by what she had witnessed. "You reverted back to Battousai last night."

Kenshin froze. A vague recollection of looking at her fear-stricken face emerged in his mind. "How did this happen?"

Kaoru shook her head, "I'm not sure. I woke up in the middle of the night and you... you had those eyes… and then you left so suddenly."

His gut churned. He remembered going to bed with an unsettled feeling that he'd thought he managed to push aside moments before lapsing to subconsciousness. Standing there in the arms of his beloved seeing the deep pools of worry reflected in her eyes, he knew what he had to do _._

"This one is sorry to have frightened you, Kaoru. This one is unworthy of your forgiveness," he apologized sadly.

"Baka!" she squeezed his nose.

"Oro?" he flinched, not quite expecting that reaction.

"Don't you remember? I want to stay with you _forever_ , through thick and thin," her lips were pursed and her face puffed up in indignation, but her eyes showed exactly how much she meant her words.

He smiled in spite of himself. _Cute,_ he thought, as he took in the sight of his breathtakingly strong woman. For just that moment, it felt like nothing had changed. Kenshin gave himself a mental kick for being distracted. Sighing, he drew her body close to his own once more, stroking the soft hair on the back of her head.

"Kaoru, let's go home. We both need rest, that we do," he coaxed.

The brunette was not about to let this slide, and pushed him away to hold at an arm's length. "Yes but... what brought this on? Did you get triggered by another bad omen? Are there more enemies after you?"

"Do not concern yourself with it for now, Kaoru. There are no bad omens, there's not," he tried placating again, to no avail, since Kaoru only tugged at his sleeves with a pleading look.

"Kenshin, please... I am _your wife_ now. Let me share this journey with you."

Her face showed an expression that broke his heart every time – the same one that had marred her beautiful features the night he turned his back and left for Kyoto. He couldn't help but relent.

"This one promises to explain to you when we get back," he said, hugging her again. "So please don't worry, and let's go home."

Kaoru huffed, not quite reassured, but didn't protest anymore as they walked back along sunlit paths bordering shimmering waters of the river. She clutched his arm tightly the whole way.


	2. Chapter 2 - Heart to Heart

**_AN_** _: Thank you to all my readers and especially reviewers, it's wonderful to interact with the community! I got some good constructive feedback about Kenshin's dual personality, and wanted to clarify that I didn't actually mean to write the Battousai side of him as being a separate person, but rather a part of him that he tries to lock deeply inside. I guess it didn't come out quite right in the first chapter, so I made a few tweaks. Perhaps it'll also be more apparent down the line. Onwards, then!_

* * *

 **Chapter 2 - Heart to Heart**

Strands of red and black splayed intertwined on white cotton sheets, soft snores floating about the air. The steady rising and falling of covers signaled a dreamless contented slumber. It had been five hours since the fatigued couple stumbled back into their chambers, and by now the sun was high in the sky.

Kaoru bolted upright, alarm bells ringing in her head. "Shimatta, I had promised to teach the Norimatsu boys today!" She promptly sprang out of bed. Their livelihood still depended on the meager income she brought in as a kenjutsu instructor, and considering the exceptional generosity of the Norimatsu family it would have been downright criminal to pass up on this chance. "Kenshin, I'm sorry, but I have to go now!"

The handsome redhead beside her stirred and rubbed his sleepy eyes, but he was alert mere seconds later. A faint scent of bamboo still lingered in his hair. "Kaoru, this one is sorry to have made you late for your lesson. Please let this one prepare some food before you go."

"Thank you, Kenshin, and it's okay, I don't have to get there till past noon." Her sleeping yukata was already coming off in favor of a set of distinctively well-worn white training gi and dark blue hakama.

Politely refraining from staring, the swordsman exited through the shoji doors of their bedroom and made his way to the kitchen as his wife finished changing and grooming herself. Inwardly, he sighed because an impending conversation still had to be had regarding last night's incident. It would have to wait until evening, then.

Cooking rice would have taken an hour longer he had available, so Kenshin was left with little choice but to serve his wife some pickled vegetables and eggs. He frowned, worried that it wouldn't be nearly enough to sustain his beloved throughout the day's workouts. Kaoru strode into the dining area and kissed his cheek before eating hurriedly, not minding the meal's meagerness in the least bit. Then she was off, a large bag of training gear slung over one shoulder, bokken in hand. "I will be back before dinner!" she called out cheerfully with a wave.

Watching the woman he married cross the dojo gate, Kenshin couldn't help but smile in wonder and amazement at how her light never seemed to dim in the face of his shadow.

* * *

The day passed like any other, with the former rurouni impeccably attending to his househusbandly duties. The floors gleamed with mirror-like polish, laundry scrubbed and neatly folded away, a crackling fire lit under the bath house, and a humble yet scrumptious dinner of rice, miso soup, grilled fish, and vegetables set freshly steaming on the table. He had made sure to prepare an extra large portion for his lady tonight, and perked up when he sensed her approaching.

"Tadaima, Kenshin!" Kaoru called out from the gate. The sunset bathed their grounds in a wash of ocher, casting an even rosier glow on her fetchingly smooth, flushed cheeks. His eyes warmed at her sight.

"Welcome home, Kaoru, did you have a nice day?" He sauntered over to meet her halfway and captured her in a hug. It was nice, being able to indulge in her tender touch each day. Even while covered in sweat-drenched fabric a sweet scent wafted from her that made his head feel light.

"Mmmhmm, the boys are improving rapidly, and I think it would be exciting to have them spar with Yahiko soon," Kaoru quipped in slightly muffled fashion from his shoulder. She pulled away from the embrace to look at him. Her heart beat with gladness at coming home to rest in the soft gaze of her husband's amethyst eyes. The shihandai tilted her head up and planted a kiss on his nose.

"I'll get cleaned up and then let's eat!" she announced cheerily, before scurrying away to the bath house, leaving an imprint of her firm curves still on his body. Kenshin chuckled to himself. He certainly would have joined her, but knew that if he did so their food would be left unpalatably cold by the time they were finished.

* * *

Sounds of light banter and occasional laughter emanated from the Kamiya dojo dining room. The Himuras sat across from each other jointly partaking in the evening meal, chattering about Kaoru's students and the potential of increasing the enrollment list, especially now that her reputation as an excellent kenjutsu teacher was growing.

Since their return from Enishi's island, talk of alluring mysteries surrounding the dojo had only intensified, which the townspeople knew had survived a vicious onslaught recently, and more shockingly, how its young female assistant master had supposedly come back from the dead. Kenshin himself had once again overheard such delicious gossip concerning their state of affairs while at the markets today.

Fortunately, public opinion on them seemed to rest somewhere between curious intrigue and admiration, and as per standard social custom, nobody dared to ask directly about the details. The side-effect of all this attention was that scores of young men, and a few young women, were becoming more interested in learning the Kamiya Kasshin style.

Kaoru kept up her smile and cheer throughout the discussion, nodding and waving her hands animatedly, but despite the twinkle in her eyes Kenshin could plainly see an undercurrent of worry. As the food disappeared from their plates their light conversation came to a natural close. He adjusted his grip on his cup of tea. A moment of awkward silence passed.

"So… Kenshin, are you alright?"

Kaoru was looking at him seriously now. His eyes met hers with sheepish tenderness.

"Hai, Kaoru," he said, scratching the back of his head. "This one apologizes about last night, and also, for once again failing to be forthcoming prior to this."

She shook her head and reached out to hold his hand, gently prompting him to continue.

"Truthfully, this one's mood can darken once in a while, that it can. Of course, you are not to blame for these occurrences. This one has felt only deep contentment by your side." He stroked her thumb tenderly. "The recent darkness has come from witnessing a series of ill-fated events on the streets. Innocent people continue to suffer under the thoughtless actions of a few, and while this one fully understands how naïve it sounds, this one wishes the world has changed more than that."

Kenshin lowered his head, obscuring his eyes with his bangs. Kaoru held both his hands now. "Kenshin… you know you're not responsible for saving the world," she reminded softly.

She had heard the news of attacks by thugs and ex-samurai, and considered these incidents to be an unfortunate fact of life. Inevitable tragedies have always ripped through the town at some point or another, being merely things to brace for and then release after passing. Even the police had no means of preventing them and were left only to pick up the pieces in the aftermath. Yet, a part of her knew that it was equally inevitable for her noble-hearted husband to be affected by these things. It was his true nature to care for others, after all.

A feeling of frustration welled up inside her, sparked from the injustice of his continued suffering on everyone else's behalf. "Mou, Kenshin, you've worked so hard and fought for so long. You can't keep piling these burdens on your shoulders!" She exclaimed, more forcefully than she really intended. "You have to let some things go!"

Kenshin met her pointed gaze and exhaled a drawn-out breath with a small smile. She was right of course.

"This one understands the truth of your words. Thank you for giving this one some much-needed reminding, Kaoru, and especially for your concern. You are truly kind, that you are." He gave her hands a squeeze.

"To clear the darkness within, this one will sometimes have to release his Ki in a secluded area. There is a bamboo forest that is off the beaten path by the river, and this one will go in the early mornings should the need arise. If you find this one gone when you wake up, please know that this one has not abandoned you," he looked at her intently to emphasize that particular point. He did not want her to feel left alone ever again.

"If you wish, you may go to find this one there, but please call out from the edge of the forest, and this one will come to meet you," he added, knowing the force of his Ki can be tremendous and harming her with it was the last of his wishes.

Kaoru nodded. "Alright, I understand. Please don't hesitate to do whatever you feel is best for your well-being." A flash of her memory replayed an instance of once finding him shrouded among the bamboo with the help of Tsubame's directions. At the time his true purpose was lost on her, and innocently she'd assumed that he was simply enjoying a quiet meditation in the forest. Her brow knotted imperceptibly. She should have asked earlier.

Rising slightly from her seated position, Kaoru reached over to touch his face. She brushed his auburn bangs aside and trailed her fingers down his cheek. Her voice grew tender, soft gaze resting on his.

"You know that I love you, Kenshin. I want you to be at peace."

At this, the battle-worn soldier's heart swelled, full of all the light that Kaoru bathes him in. He stared into the depths of affection stretching out from within her ocean blue eyes, a smile blooming on his face. If not for the table between them, he would have closed the gap between their lips. "Thank you, Kaoru. Truly."

Satisfied that her words have reached the core of his being, Kaoru sat back beaming. "Mou, you don't even need to thank me, Kenshin no baka!"

The ex-rurouni held up his hands and laughed at her jibe. In truth, he was relieved. He had somewhat expected her to object and press for further details, but at the same time it was so characteristically Kaoru to just accept his ways and move forward.

With the tension abated, they proceeded to put away their dishes and engaged in light banter afterwards, gossiping about Yahiko and his favorite shy little waitress.

It was only late at night while securely snuggled under the futon that Kenshin drew his precious wife close and kissed her gratefully.

"This one loves you too, Kaoru," he said, in reply to the sweet words she had uttered earlier. His lady pressed herself closer into him, resting her head in the space between his neck and shoulders. Though she knew her husband's love was as sure as the sun's rise every morning, Kaoru cherished the few times Kenshin verbalized his feelings, being occasions that never failed to set butterflies aflutter in her stomach. She briefly wondered if he could feel her face redden against his skin, but the thought became irrelevant once she responded back with a kiss. Kenshin deepened the press of their lips eagerly, one hand gently stroking down her back to the curves of her hips.

They indulged in the bliss of marital passion that evening, bodies rocking together in time with the rhythm of their hearts.

In the following month, when Kaoru awoke to empty sheets beside her, not a sliver of worry or trepidation crossed her mind. She didn't yet know that a shadowed corner would remain within her husband's heart.


	3. Chapter 3 - The Smell of Fear

_**AN:**_ _This chapter turned out darker than I expected. There is content dealing with domestic violence, which may be triggering to some. I have marked the start and end of that section with XXXXXX, so please exercise caution when you get to that point._

* * *

 **Chapter 3 – The Smell of Fear**

Himura Kaoru woke up to a pitch-black room and a gripping sense of unease. After her eyes had adjusted, their gaze found another pair staring back at her. Amber. Kaoru sat up, more prepared this time than the first. Steeling herself with as much composure as she could muster, she faced her husband who was again heaving with deep breaths, one tense hand hovering over his gaping mouth, the other pressed down hard on the floor supporting him. "Kenshin… it's alright…" she reached her hand out slowly, tentatively, towards him, not wanting to repeat the same incident from six weeks before.

His eyes scanned her expression, his own a strained visage. She was very good at putting up a brave front. He knew courage is not the absence of fear, and his beauteous companion was one of the most courageous women he had ever met, but that was exactly the problem. She was not without fear. As she looked at him with knotted brow he could smell it, not unlike when he had sent men to their deaths years ago. When he had made it rain blood. She was afraid.

Afraid.

Of him.

* * *

 _It had all seemed fine the day before…_

"Tae-san you are simply the best!" Kaoru cooed at her best friend, as she served them a complimentary bowl of hot pot. "Of course, Kaoru-chan, I just _have_ to pamper my favorite regulars occasionally!"

"I can't believe it but for once I agree with Busu!" Yahiko dived into the pot ravenously, knowing the early bird gets the choice meat. Next, he was tilting fast towards the ground.

"Yahiko when are you gonna learn some manners?!" Kaoru shook her fist, still bruised from impact with her student.

"Oi, Busu that's child abuse!" He leaped at Kaoru. A standard fight ensued, miraculously leaving the pot untouched.

Kenshin held up his hands, playing his default role of mediator. "Maa, maa you two… there's plenty to go around." There was less to be said when a sandal landed squarely on his face.

Tae was laughing, while Tsubame hid her face behind her serving tray, worried for Yahiko but not daring to intervene directly.

The bickering settled down eventually after hunger pains called for a reluctant truce. The mood instantly changed to pure joy once the delicious assortment food was partaken. Now Kaoru and Yahiko sang a matching chorus of praises. "Tsubame made most of these herself, she's really becoming quite the little chef, ne?" Tae teased her young waitress, who turned a beautiful shade of red. Yahiko gasped, then gulped, the soup and meat morsels he just swallowed suddenly tasting that much better.

Kaoru elbowed him and snickered as she exchanged a knowing glance at Kenshin, who appeared equally amused. "Tsubame-dono, you have quite a talent, that you do. We are truly fortunate," he offered sincerely, making the young girl turn a shade redder than seemingly possible.

The joyous meal and banter lasted for over an hour and a half. Most of the other customers began to file out of the Akabeko since it was getting late, but Kaoru and Tae were still giggling over shared jokes. Kenshin observed the scene with bright a warm feeling that surged from his chest and pushed up to his eyes. He sighed contentedly. This was his family, and he wouldn't have it any other way.

"Ne, Kenshin, I haven't caught up with Tae for so long, I want to stay here to chat just a bit more. Is that okay?" Kaoru pleaded, placing a hand on his arm. "Maybe you can head home first? I'm sure Yahiko will walk me home."

The boy in question perked up and was about to protest again but quickly stopped himself when he noticed Tsubame watching. He straightened up. "Yeah, of course, leave it to me. I'm a gentleman too." He crossed his arms confidently. This was a good chance to impress.

Kenshin let off an easy smile. "With Yahiko escorting you, this one has absolutely no need to worry. This way too there will be plenty of time to prepare a hot bath prior to your arrival, that there will." He squeezed her hand, and started getting up to leave.

"Thank you, Kenshin-san, I appreciate you lending your wife. I promise I'll return her to you tonight," Tae giggled again, earning a blushing jab from Kaoru.

"This one thanks you for your consideration, Tae-dono." Kenshin playfully retorted, before politely bowing and walking out.

* * *

Outside, the sun had dipped below the horizon, splashing the town in painterly hues of orange and dark blues. A summer breeze wicked away his beads of perspiration, bringing merciful respite from the heat. The streets were clearing up as common folk each returned to their homes, and while he trudged along the quieted familiar path back to the dojo, Kenshin could still feel the warm afterglow of his family gathering on his back.

Upon turning a corner, the redhead passed by one of the richer complexes in town, a solid wall encircling its perimeter. He rarely saw people going in and out of it and didn't know anyone acquainted with its owner, so he never had any business there. He was walking almost out of its range when a mixture of distress and violent Ki emanating from the far corner of the mansion called out to his senses. A strangled cry from a woman and little girl confirmed that there was trouble.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Kenshin darted back towards the house, the cries becoming more audible even with the thick wall absorbing their sounds.

"You fucking whore, you ruined things AGAIN! Don't you know how to do _anything_ right? This time I swear I'll kill you and that useless whelp!" A man bellowed, followed by the sound of blunt object hitting flesh, and flesh hitting ground. A woman's tormented cry rang out. "Please, stop! Hit me all you want but stop hitting her!"

Kenshin required no further information before leaping up to the roof of the wall, his eyes already narrowing into slits from the rising anger inside. In a fraction of a second, his gaze registered a burly man holding a sheathed sword stained with blood standing on the porch, while a battered woman hunched over an unconscious girl at the backyard corner, shielding her with her own body. The girl's head leaked a copious amount of blood.

"Shut up!" the man bellowed. The woman's face turned ghostly white with sheer terror and she recoiled.

 _…A woman's body jerking back and a terrified face… Kaoru's face_.

Kenshin's blood turned to ice.

The man charged towards his victims like a raging bull. He was in mid-step when Kenshin lunged, using the full force of his weight to slam the hilt of his blade into the brute's side, knocking him over to collide with the opposing wall.

Kenshin landed deftly on the ground. The woman gasped and her terrified gaze shifted towards him.

The man clutched his fractured ribs and coughed out some blood, but while his vision briefly swirled with dark purple spots he did not faint. With one arm he wiped the stain from his mouth, the other digging into the ground with fury at the interference. "What the… who the hell are you? What the hell are you doing on my property?!" He spat, gnashing his teeth. "You've got some nerve coming in here and meddling in my personal affairs. This doesn't concern you, bastard."

"I cannot simply ignore the cries of suffering coming from here! You have no right to abuse this woman and child!" Kenshin gripped the hilt of his sword tightly, positively livid.

"They're my goddamn useless wife and stupid brat. I can do whatever I want with them," the man hissed. Squinting, he looked closer at his intruder, and through the light spilling from indoors he could make out red hair and a cross scar. A recognizable character around here.

"Hey, wait a sec, I know you... You're Himura, that newlywed swordsman. There's been plenty of talk in town and I know all about your attention-seeking antics."

Kenshin stood unflinching.

The man slowly brought himself up to his feet, lips curled in a mocking smile. "You've got a pretty lil' wife now, but you must know how troublesome these whores can be. You're a fucking savage with that sword. I bet you keep your bitch in line–" he was cut off by Kenshin's sakabatou crushing his jaw, the vertebrae on his neck twisting with a pop, nearly snapping. His eyes rolled up when his head slammed onto the hard barrier a second time, body slipping down to the ground.

Kenshin heaved as he stood over the unconscious man, seething with rage. He wouldn't typically be set off by taunts, but the crude asshole just had to bring Kaoru into this.

He also knew that technically, he _was_ trespassing. In fact, this was only the third time that the ex-rurouni had intervened in a domestic dispute. While it was obvious that violence in homes ran rampant, and he hated their existence as much as any other oppressive force exploiting the vulnerable, it was rare for him to be in any position to act. This time, he was left with no other choice.

He took a few deep breaths to quell the storm in his chest, sheathed his sword, and fixed the most nonthreatening rurouni expression on his face before turning to kneel on one foot before the sobbing woman.

"Please forgive this one for meddling, but we have to take your child to the doctor. It would also be safer if you both are under custody of the police, for now." He offered his hand, his own heart breaking for their plight.

The woman looked at him with the same shade of terror as before, not sure if she should trust a man who easily struck down her husband with the same violence that she had just experienced.

 _…Kaoru's face, twisted with fear…._

Kenshin could read her mind through her eyes, and felt sickened in the pit of his stomach. He didn't kill anymore, it was true, but he sure maimed and shattered bones as effortlessly as he'd complete the next mundane chore set before him. _Is it that much better, really?_

Despite her initial hesitation, the woman reached out for his hand, one arm securely bracing the limp child against her form. As they turned to leave, Kenshin spared one last glance at the man lying unconscious on the ground. His sword had left a mercilessly deep indent on the man's face, his jaw bloodied and clearly in pieces. It would be hard for him to eat and swallow again even after months of recovery.

Pushing aside the horrors of his own handiwork, Kenshin set about to bring the woman and child to Dr. Gensai, apologizing for bothering him at the late hour, before reporting the incident to Chief Uramura and letting the police take over.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

As the former hitokiri walked sullenly back towards the dojo, the shadow of what had just occurred hung over him like a dark cloud. The ground passing beneath his feet felt as thick as mud. Once back in the silence of his residence grounds, he splashed a bucket of cold water over his head, and fired up the bath only afterwards. He put on his best mask when Yahiko and Kaoru arrived, still bickering in their half-joking way, and was quietly thankful for the distraction. He bid Yahiko an early farewell and excused himself to bed after notifying Kaoru that her bath was ready, not bothering to address the unspoken question for why he wasn't joining her.

As his wife settled into the futon beside him, too sleepy from her long day to deeply ponder if anything was amiss, Kenshin kept his eyes closed and pretended to be asleep. She snuggled against his side, pressing her forehead to his shoulder in a comforting gesture of habit she'd recently developed. Long after her breathing had slowed and evened out, his thoughts continued to race for dreadful hours that seemed to stretch into days before exhaustion finally took its toll and brought him to a plane of subconsciousness. Scenes and words flashed in his mind's eye.

 _Kaoru staring at him with fear-stricken eyes, body jerking backwards away from him._

 _A bruised mother, clutching a bleeding child._

 _That taunting smile, and words that cut as surely as truth. "You're a fucking savage with that sword."_

 _"I bet you keep your bitch in line…"_

 _The wretched man that deserved to be struck down. To die._

 _His face now a broken bloody mess._

 _The battered wife's face, a sheet of pure terror._

 _Kaoru, his wife, afraid._

 _Afraid of…_

* * *

Of him.

Not just right now, but in times past. With Jin'eh. With Saitou.

Battousai knew it was true, as he stared into the depths of her concealed terror. He knew what he was. Knew what he had done. What he was still unleashing upon people he considered deserving.

What he was capable of doing to his own wife.

Suddenly he realized the fear he was smelling wasn't just hers... it was his own.

Inside him, it rained.


	4. Chapter 4 - The Chasm

**_AN_** _: Again, thank you especially to my reviewers! Reading your kind words makes my day and gets me even more excited about writing. We are roughly at the mid-point of the story, so expect to see a few more chapters after this. Now, without further ado…_

* * *

 **Chapter 4 – The Chasm**

Flaming hair whipping in a trail behind him, the ex-hitokiri rushed through the riverbank at breakneck speed as he ran from himself, from Kaoru, and the consequence of his words. He neither noticed the magnificent reflection of a crescent moon on the waters, nor the shocking array of brilliant stardust twinkling above. His world was a monochrome of regret.

The beleaguered man could still see his wife's expression from mere moments ago. He had wished to take his words back as soon as they had left his lips.

 _"You are not, and you will never be Tomoe..."_

Kaoru had stilled, shock-rooted on the spot, the color drained from her face.

This time, when he bolted, she hadn't given chase.

He kept up his pace, kicking up dirt in its wake, and soon enough found himself back among the bamboo. He screamed a deafening tone of anguish that assailed the night air, unleashing his Ki in a burst of thunderous force.

Again,

and again,

and again,

and _again_.

The space around him turned into a flying mess of whipped earth, broken shoots, and leaves, all rushing up in wild trajectories as though the world had left its fate up into the galaxies, the boom in his ears buzzing to a pitch of deafness and the sight before his eyes bursting into blinding whiteness.

Everything faded to a singularity.

* * *

Tears were dripping down her face, but Kaoru didn't register them. She sat on their marital bed in pure disbelief, her mind replaying what had just happened. Her husband had pushed himself far away from her, and she had seen the fear in his face, seemingly a first for his amber-eyed self.

 _"Get away from me! Get away! You don't know what I am, what I can do..." he pleaded. He was backed up to the corner of their room, one arm outstretched and the other waving the sheathed sword in front of him. His eyes were wide with desperation._

The sudden outburst had stopped her movement at first. She couldn't comprehend what was happening inside him. Why was he saying this, all of a sudden? She had known what he was capable of, had witnessed with her own eyes his sheer brute force during the fight with Saito, and had wished it to stop with all her might so that her gentle rurouni might return.

But there had been no enemies here.

Kaoru had quickly resolved to push through her panic and bring Kenshin back. Rather than reaching out, she had stayed put and opened her arms.

 _"Kenshin, I... it's... alright. It's just the two of us... Look, I am here. I am always here for you," she managed to say, her voice trembling. "You don't have to be like this…"_

The searing force of his amber gaze had been almost too much to bear. Kaoru's heart was pounding, a part of her wanting to run as far away as possible, and she had to fight against the instinct with every fiber of her being.

He had seemed to sense the struggle within her, and his face then showed a wrenching pain, breaking her heart in equal measure.

 _"No, this is not... this is all... wrong," he choked out._

And then he had uttered those words that cut deep into her bones.

Tomoe. He was reaching for Tomoe.

And she was not her.

His face had twisted again, seemingly in guilt after saying it out loud. Then he was gone, leaving her alone with the silence and her falling tears.

As she sat there with arms that still hung open, the emptiness felt like a dark chasm that could never be filled.

* * *

The coolness of the forest slowly dissipated away as the day broke to a blaze, but this time there were no bird songs to pierce the air. One man lay at the center of a crater, the earth torn up in a neat circle with a perimeter of broken bamboo and crushed up leaves leaving a layer of faded green dust upon the landscape.

Kenshin groaned and pushed himself up painstakingly, dirt soiling the hakama under his knees. He blinked, startled when he took in his surroundings to realize that he was the source of this natural destruction. It would explain why the life-force felt completely drained from his body.

He must have reverted back to his Battousai side again, and whatever happened to prompt this magnitude of unleashing was something non-trivial. He tried jogging his memories, but couldn't make anything out of last night, except the feeling that he had made a terrible mistake. There were remnants of tears on his face and a faint, perhaps hallucinated, smell of plum blossoms.

Taking a deep breath, he refocused on the present. Only one train of thought was playing in his mind, and it was the only thing that mattered.

 _I will not abandon her. I will not. I have to go home to her. I have to go. I have to..._

He ambled haltingly out of the clearing. Judging by the sun in the sky, he had likely been unconscious for at least eight hours.

People gave him odd looks when he passed by the riverbank due to his obviously disheveled state, but the blankness of his stare prevented anyone from bothering him.

When he stepped through the dojo gate, he found Kaoru sitting on the porch still in her sleeping yukata. She looked visibly shaken, with pronounced dark circles underscoring her eyes, but at his sight she managed a weak smile and breathed a long deep sigh of relief. Somehow, she had wiped all traces of a betrayed heart from her face. Only love shone there. Her arms hung outstretched.

Kenshin stumbled into her warmth and his first instinct was to apologize profusely, though he didn't quite know what for, but she just held his face in her hands and shushed him. She closed her arms tightly around his body, allowing him to sink down to the ground and collapse against her. His hands clutched her back, feeling the solidity of her slight frame, and it felt like none of the questions mattered anymore. They rocked together in silence.

* * *

They did not talk about it.

The exhausted couple had taken a few days off, feigning illness to their friends and to Kaoru's students, and afterwards they'd kept up their daily routines. In the following week, Kenshin would disappear almost every morning, though he would always come back. When the two were together, the only words they exchanged were about light, irrelevant, matters.

Kaoru couldn't bring herself to tell him what he had said. She figured it was better that he didn't remember, because otherwise he would never let himself live it down. A part of her ached, pricked by insecurity, but she kept it locked away in a box buried somewhere in her soul. Still, the questions would surface in her mind at times: _how could he have possibly said that?_ And more importantly _,_ why? _What was prompting all of this?_

Even though Kenshin was being his usual kind and dedicated self, she was learning to read deeper into him. His over-attentiveness signaled guilt. The slight lack of glimmer in his eyes when he smiled, sadness. And the imperceptibly larger distance he held before her, fear.

Of course, Kenshin was also attuned to his wife's slight changes. Her cheery smiles felt a little forced even when she was joking and jibing at him. She was just a tad less generous in touching his arms and hands. Her eyes were a bit more distant and sad. He knew he had hurt her somehow, and was racked with guilt through and through.

Deep inside he still felt afraid of himself, his violent ways, and the possibility of it spilling over to her. But there was something else there that he didn't know how to name, leaving a perplexing hole in his heart.

The two shared the same bed but at night when they embraced it was like they weren't fully touching. Like a pair of lovers stranded on opposing sides of a ravine, neither knew how to bridge this gulf.

* * *

All of this didn't escape one boy's notice.

Yahiko stared hard at his teacher during practice one day, sweat dripping down his forehead. The beginner's session for new students had concluded, and it was now time for their one-on-one advanced lessons. Kaoru hadn't let up on him one bit for the past three hours.

"Hey Busu, are you having a fight with Kenshin?" he blurted suddenly.

Kaoru jumped a little, startled by the question. She'd thought her facade had been nearly perfect.

"I know you two by now. Spill it. What's going on?"

Automatically, Kaoru tried to brush it aside. "What are you talking about? There's nothing wrong. Don't get distracted! Now come on and give me your best parry twenty more times!"

As far as Kaoru was concerned, the recent incidents should be kept only between her and Kenshin. It was _their_ marriage, so _they_ had to work it out, no matter how long it would take.

Yahiko swung his shinai up, properly defending against her head strikes, steadily bearing the ache building in his shoulders. Then he lunged in turn with one strong push of his calf and a _swoosh_ of bamboo overhead, which Kaoru deftly met with her own parry.

"You're lying! Come on, tell me!" he yelled as he came at her with another charge.

Kaoru side-stepped as her student fiercely rushed past to complete his swing and spun around. Both of them stopped, breathing heavily.

"Yahiko-kun," she started, looking intently at his brown eyes. Always full of fiery passion, this one. He had only gotten smarter and sharper over time, too, and though she rarely verbalized it, her heart swelled with pride for her little protégé. "I appreciate your concern, but it's really none of your business."

He was still watching at her with those stubborn eyes. He wasn't going to let up either.

Kaoru sighed.

"Look, Yahiko, everything will be alright. We just need to talk things over, that's all," she finally admitted.

The boy rolled his shoulders, and adjusted his grip. He accepted the partial answer. "Alright, fine, whatever you say, Busu. Just don't say I didn't try to help and come crying to me later," he huffed.

Kaoru didn't take the bait of his jab, because she knew what was beneath it. He was worried. She and Kenshin were essentially his surrogate parents after all, and no child wants to see their family break apart. Especially not when he had lost his own, so early on.

The assistant master lowered her bokken and walked over to the little swordsman to pat the side his head. Gently. Yahiko jerked back at the unusual display of tenderness, expecting it to be a ruse, but no smacks followed from her hand.

"Thank you, Yahiko. I promise we'll be alright."

Kaoru's eyes were firm and clear yet her smile was tinged with a slight sorrow, so he didn't flinch anymore. She was exuding a grave maturity that he had only just noticed.

"Um... yeah. Okay. No worries," he said, suddenly rather self-conscious.

Stepping back, the shinandai asked with a wider smile, "so, will you be joining us for dinner tonight? Kenshin is getting the tofu and I'll be making some rice cakes later." She was hoping to steer the mood back to something lighter.

"No thanks, and not just because you're the one cooking. I have something I gotta do tonight," he replied.

Now Kaoru was the one curious. He was rarely cryptic with his answers.

"Where are you going?"

He looked away, as if deciding whether to tell her. His eyes were shadowed and he didn't turn his face to her when he replied. "I'm visiting my parents' grave. My mom died three years ago tonight."

Kaoru gasped slightly, her heart growing with even more tenderness. "I... I see. I'm sorry to hear that Yahiko, but I'm sure they're watching over you with pride." Realizing she knew next to nothing about his parents, she gave herself a mental kick for not having cared more. "May I come along to pay my respects?"

He debated the request for a second, then nodded, wordlessly. He seemed to gather himself back together, and then his sharp focus returned to her with the same fire behind them.

"Anyway, are we done yet, or do you still got some of that fight left in you?" he challenged, shinai raised up again.

Kaoru smiled, genuinely this time. She knew what she had to do later, grateful for the youth's prodding. "You bet. Brace yourself, you asked for it!"

She struck, beginning their sparring practice to round out the day's exercise.

* * *

Later, after Yahiko had left and Kenshin returned with their groceries, Kaoru caught her husband's arm before he could busy himself with chores. He looked up at her with a start.

"Kenshin, let's sit down. We need to talk."

Amethyst eyes gazed into deep blue ones. He knew that this moment would come sooner or later.

He acquiesced.

"Hai, Kaoru. That we do."


	5. Chapter 5 - Grave Matters

**_AN_** _: This chapter will make more sense from the perspective of the manga, where Kenshin was the only one to save Yahiko from yakuza who enslaved him. By the way, I do think he's the oldest 10-year-old ever._

* * *

 **Chapter 5 – Grave Matters**

There was a tea leaf standing straight up in his cup, but "lucky" was the last adjective Kenshin would use right now. His grip on the cup was tense, and at a quick glance, so was Kaoru's hand on the table.

He sucked in a deep breath, wondering where to start. Today at the market he had subdued a band of robbers trying to harass the gentle old woman who owned the fabric store. His threatening Ki had sent them running without further ado, so his sakabatou remained firmly sheathed. It felt like a small victory in more ways than one, but mentioning this now would only be needless distraction.

Kaoru cleared her throat, once again claiming the task of breaking their awkward silence. "Kenshin, I know you're struggling with something, and you need to tell me."

His eyes rose to meet hers.

"We are married now, and if this is going to work, you need to stop keeping everything to yourself and let me in." Her blue orbs plainly showed the hurt she was feeling. "Please."

Kenshin realized he should just come out and say it already.

"Kaoru," he began, as he pushed away the final traces of hesitation. "This one is sure the recent… reversal… has to do with an incident that this one was involved in. But it's not a pretty tale, that it's not."

Her gaze was level and steady at him.

"A week ago, on the way back from the Akabeko, this one had sensed the distressed Ki of a woman and child. A man, their husband and father, was threatening their lives. The woman had been badly battered, and the girl beaten unconscious." At this, Kenshin seemed to wince. "This one couldn't help but step in."

Kaoru covered his hand with her own. "Kenshin, I'm glad you saved them," she muttered, but the trail of her tone indicated she knew there was more than that. She waited for him to continue, and her husband took another breath.

"The man had uttered some crude and taunting words, implying that this one would strike you in the same ruthless manner." His face darkened. "This one had hit him harder than necessary because of it, and this one regrets it now. The man will likely be disfigured for the rest of his life."

Kenshin looked down on his palms, creased and calloused from the years of wielding a weapon of destruction. "This one is afraid, Kaoru. Afraid of what these hands could do… and has continued to do in violence."

His gaze rested back on her. Grief unhidden. "This one is afraid of hurting you..."

Kaoru was already shaking her head.

"Oh, Kenshin..."

It was utterly predictable that his inner turmoil would center around protecting her well-being, so she should've known. While this only explained one of two things, it was a start, and perhaps she could gently coax further revelations from his heart down the line.

She reached for his face.

"Kenshin, listen to me. You have a wholly pure and good heart. You have never raised your sword with evil intent and you've only used violence as a last resort."

With eyes focused in all seriousness, she added, "it never crossed my mind that you would harm me. Not even once. Because I _know_ you. _You never will_."

She gave a tender smile, thumb caressing his right cheek. "Please don't worry anymore. Trust in your own goodness a little more, ne?"

Kenshin leaned slightly into the softness of her palm, and covered it with his own. His mouth curved upwards, truly humbled by the high esteem with which she regarded him. He sighed, prompting some tension to visibly leave his shoulders.

"Hai, Kaoru, this one will try. This one thanks you for your faith."

It felt like things were piecing back together. She must have sensed it too, for her eyes sparkled with a mischief that he hadn't seen in a while.

"Of course, I know I made the right choice for a husband, after all!"

Kenshin's eyes bugged out.

"Ororo?! You mean you were considering other men?"

She giggled. "Don't you forget – you're married to the one they call the flower of kenjutsu. You're a lucky man, Himura Kenshin," she quipped, tossing her hair and crossing her arms in mock smugness.

Kenshin couldn't help but laugh a little at her display. His tea leaf had been right all along. The stars had blessed him with nothing short of a captivating beauty, both inside and out, and he was lucky to have one such as her accompanying him on this winding road of life.

The air seemed to have cleared after that, and they continued chatting on a similarly light note over dinner. Halfway through the meal, Kaoru suddenly slapped her hands on the table.

"Oh! I almost forgot! I was going to accompany Yahiko tonight. He said he will be visiting his parents' grave since it's the anniversary of his mother's passing."

Kenshin raised his eyebrows. "That's a nice gesture, that it is, but why is he going so late?"

Kaoru stared blankly at him. "Good question. I don't know why I didn't think to ask. The graveyard would be so spooky at this hour…"

Her face scrunched up as she strongly reconsidered her decision, and feeling like he might have ruined a perfectly good teacher-student bonding time, Kenshin tried to undo the damage.

"Maa, maa, perhaps he has good reason for it. Why don't you go on ahead with him, Kaoru. This one is sure he will appreciate your company."

He would have offered to tag along, but sensed that their favorite boy may have had some deeply personal reasons for the visitation, and did not want to impose himself without advanced permission.

Kaoru was whimpering a little. Apparently, she was afraid of ghosts.

"Mou, alright, fine! I'll go since I already said I would. I'm just gonna bring my bokken along!"

Kenshin urged her along with his rurouni smile, and didn't bother pointing out that kenjutsu wouldn't be of much use against ethereal beings.

* * *

The night air was slightly cooler and more humid than usual. Groaning wind rustled the sparse leaves on twisting trees. It was cloudy overhead so they couldn't count on the moon to brighten their way to the graveyard, but fortunately candle lamps dotted the path to fortify the spot of their lantern. Overhead, some ravens crowed, passing in flight.

Yahiko walked along in silence, carrying a bucket, with Kaoru keeping pace beside him. She could tell there was a heaviness in his heart, but her own senses were preoccupied by some rather supernatural concerns. An owl hooted nearby, causing her to jump. Eyes darting to the left and right, she gripped the bokken on her side a little too tightly.

The pair moved past rows of tombstones until they came upon a modest grave sitting next to one that appeared disheveled. Yahiko stopped over the latter. When Kaoru shone her light on it, she let out a small gasp. Petals of smashed dried flowers littered the plot and the dirt everywhere around it was torn up, but most shocking of all was the graffiti scrawled all over it in incriminating red and black ink. _Slut. Whore._ There were other expletives written that made Kaoru turn her face away.

The boy lowered himself to his knees, took out a rag from his bucket, and started wiping. A wrenching realization settled into the pit of her stomach.

"Yeah... my mom was a prostitute."

Kaoru didn't know what to say, so she just held the lantern out to aid him with its softly tangerine glow. He kept scrubbing, his determined little hands working in a rhythmic pattern of devotion, taking away one judgment at a time. She held herself up steady for the sake of his strength.

"This grave always gets vandalized at night. Sometimes, I'd catch the bastards in the act and make them pay. But, I don't catch them often enough."

Unerringly he scrubbed, and scrubbed, and scrubbed. The red and black loosened their grip, soaking into his rag.

"I don't care what they think. I don't care what they say." His voice was breaking. He wiped his nose and eyes, streaking some ink on his face. "She's _my mom_ , y'know?"

The stains dissipated, letting the obscured name underneath show through unabashedly. Pure and unblemished.

He moved again to begin clearing remnants of the stale flowers and putting the dirt back where they belonged.

"Even if she had had to keep living this way, it doesn't matter. I know she would be doing it for my sake. She had _honor_."

He stopped. His small form hunched over, dirty fingers gathered into a fist pressed hard on his thighs as he sat kneeling before the now-polished stone.

"I miss her."

Kaoru knew without looking that warm droplets were hitting the back of his knuckles. Yahiko, the stoic one, finally laying bare what he was. A lost child.

The shihandai knelt behind him and drew her precious pupil into a tight embrace. He didn't protest. Her tears flowed as freely as his and they wept in solidarity for many more minutes. All eeriness of the place had left. The darkness turned sacred.

Sitting there with their gentle sobs, yet another spark of realization was dawning inside Kaoru's mind. Yahiko's words had answered the second mystery surrounding Kenshin's recent behavior. Silently, she thanked him and his blessed mother.

With the last traces of his grief set free, Yahiko shifted to grab some wildflowers from his bucket. He laid them before the grave, and clasped his hands together in fervent prayer. Kaoru did the same, wishing every happiness for the departed woman, and especially, for her beloved son.

They repeated the gesture for Yahiko's father, who rested in the adjacent grave. The boy bowed deeply before the two stones prior to leaving.

On the way back, he dared to ask.

"Hey, Busu… so, you and Kenshin… did you two sort it out?"

Kaoru found herself unexpectedly glad to hear him insult her as per usual. She looked down, meeting his earnest gaze. Her answer shone with confidence and truth.

"Hai, we talked things over earlier, and thanks to you, I've got a good hunch about what's happening inside him. We'll be alright soon enough, you'll see."

Yahiko was certainly curious about the details she'd carefully left out, but he decided to let it go and just nodded. All the adults had a way of walling themselves off, and tonight he didn't feel the need to bring out the battering rams. He would trust in her.

Upon reaching the heart of town, the little swordsman offered to walk Kaoru back to the dojo in a true display of gentlemanliness. She refused, citing the rest that was due to his body and spirit, and they parted ways in front of the Akabeko.

* * *

The trek back to the dojo would've taken only twenty brief minutes at a sauntering pace and fifteen at a brisk walk, the sequence of steps so deeply imprinted on her memory that Kaoru could've done it in her sleep. Yet, tonight, something seemed a little off.

Someone was watching her.

As if on cue, a figure sprang from a corner with a glint of metal following close by. Thanking the gods she had brought her weapon along, she turned and struck efficiently, ramming the bokken's tip into his solar plexus, causing the man to double over groaning and drop his dagger. Two more came at her suddenly, and with a swift crack of wood on skull they went down, clutching their heads.

Kaoru sprinted the rest of the way back to the dojo, heart pumping wildly in her chest. Despite having beaten back the thugs, she couldn't shake off an impending portentous feeling.

Kenshin was already outside the gate when she returned. "Kaoru, what happened? Are you alright?" His amethyst eyes were wide in alarm, hand ready to draw the sakabatou.

"Yes, I'm ok, I managed to shake them off." She pressed into him, clutching the collars of his gi, turning to bring them both quickly inside the compound. "I'm not sure what they wanted, but I don't think anyone else followed me."

Unconvinced, Kenshin projected his Ki around their home. He waited with bated breath, but couldn't detect any signs of an unsavory presence. After a few more seconds, he released his tension and turned back to her, apologizing profusely for not having accompanied her on such a late-night trip. She just shook her head, saying it was her choice.

For the next two weeks, the swordsman insisted on escorting his beloved everywhere. He may have sensed some hidden eyes watching her a few times, but there were no malicious intent. Kaoru protested eventually, not wanting the man she married to be reduced to a mere bodyguard.

A whole week passed afterwards without incident.

Then one day, while returning from the Maekawa dojo alone at dusk, fifteen men launched at her in ambush.


	6. Chapter 6 - The Color Red

**_AN_** _: **This chapter is rated M** , and may be difficult to read in some parts. It deals with attempted sexual assault and violence, though nothing explicit is written, and I have spared the worst. I marked the start and end of that section with XXXXXXXXXX, so please exercise caution as before. Take heart, there is light at the end of the tunnel, I promise. _

_Many thanks for ChiChanz for invaluable input on the plot._

* * *

 **Chapter 6 - The Color Red**

Himura Kaoru was not going down.

Her gi was torn up in several places with slashes and bruises stinging the exposed skin, but she was far from being done. She had vowed to never again be so helpless, like on that day when Jin'eh snatched her, and that time when Enishi had made her a tool for her husband's torture. No, she simply _could not_ let that happen again. Not, especially, for _his_ sake.

Fighting Kamatari alongside Misao had made it clear that her edgeless bokken needed a complement to defeat more vicious weapons. She had trained relentlessly since then, learning to fight smarter. Here and now, as the band of lawless men rushed her, she moved with agility, feigning a hit only to duck at the last second. The two thugs crashed into each other as they slashed with their daggers, barely nipping her arms along the way. She spun when a mace came down from her left, using her bokken to further drive its heavy metal head into the ground, ramming the hilt of her weapon into her assailant's face. Then her right shoulder took a hit from a club - she hissed at the throbbing pain, but quickly bent low to swipe her wooden sword at the owner's shins. As he fell over, she clutched his shirt, using his own momentum to barrel him over into two other men, who fumbled the grip of their sickle and sword.

That was six out of fifteen. The others formed a tight circle around the swordswoman, realizing they couldn't simply move in for an attack without a plan. There was a tense moment of pause, of muscles clenching, on the verge of burst-firing. Shallow, regulated breaths punctuated the quiet air.

Beads of sweat trickled down her forehead. A single round droplet fell away, and as soon it hit the ground, the tension broke. A tall man with spiked black hair pushed in with an overhead sword strike. It's the moment she'd been waiting for. Without hesitation, Kaoru raised her crossed fists up into the air.

 _Kamiya Kasshin Ryu Ougi No Mamori: Hatome!_

Her fists caught his blade, millimeters from cutting skin, and with a battle-cry she lunged forward. _Ougi No Seme: Hawatari!_

Her bokken hit that precise spot between his eyes, the force and friction drawing blood, throwing him back.

This daunted several of the men, but two more came through, each at thirty degrees from her back, trying to take advantage of the sliver of inaction right after her attack. Expecting this, Kaoru was already spinning around, such that their weapons grazed and tore the fabric on her sides. She bent her upper body backwards and pushed up with her bokken held on both ends, tumbling them over, before catching herself on the ground with her arms.

Noticing the vacated spots left by the two men, she sprang for the one on her right, knowing the opening won't be there for long. If she could get to an alley, she would be able to enact the strategy Yahiko once used to force the rest of the men to come at her one at a time. She knew with absolute certainty that she would prevail that way.

Alas, something caught her leg.

A chain had wrapped itself tight around her left foot, and with a jerk it brought her crashing down. The spiky-haired man smirked, satisfied his throw had been right on target. As soon as Kaoru's face hit the ground, one of the remaining men leaped over her, brass knuckle slamming into her head. As the world turned black she let out one last roaring cry from within.

 _Kenshin!_

* * *

The axe came down in a neat arc, log splitting perfectly in half. Kenshin, ever the dutiful husband, was chopping firewood for yet another steaming bath. The sun had almost completely set, coloring the earth on their yard a deep maroon.

Kaoru was late. She had said that she would return from practice before dark and that was only minutes away now, yet the cross-scarred swordsman still couldn't sense her Ki approaching.

Just then, it hit him: Kaoru's alarmed cry booming like the crack of thunder in the back of his mind. His stomach lurched with the blackest of all ominous feelings, and a split second later he was outside, sakabatou in hand.

He traced her steps to the Maekawa dojo, stopping on a deserted stretch of road flanked by the river on the left and a high wall on the right. Remnants of her distressed Ki still lingered along with a bundle of malevolence. It led down to where the path curved over, towards the outskirts of town. They had taken her to the docks. Kenshin ran at breakneck speed, praying feverishly to the gods that he was not too late.

The trail of auras led to an abandoned warehouse with fortified thick walls. Its massive entrance was completely sealed. Judging from the structure's size, it was likely meant to house shipment crates from a once-bustling trade route. There was a small window near the roof, and Kenshin leapt three stories up with ease, breaking through the glass.

What he witnessed inside ripped the Battousai side out of him in an instant.

* * *

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The interior of the warehouse was dim, its two lamps casting more shadows than the mild orange they projected. Kaoru was down on one knee in a corner of the bottom floor, practically naked and still blazing with fighting Ki. Her clothes were strewn on the ground, the bandage on her chest in tatters. She had woken up as soon as she'd felt prying hands tearing off her fabric, and proceeded to put up an incredible amount of resistance, breaking noses with her elbows and knees. The shihandai's whole body ached and bled in several places, but her spirit had long since overtaken her physical self.

She was _absolutely_ _not_ giving in, and she _would_ return home to her husband.

The men were wiping their bloodied faces in a mixture of surprise and arousal. This slight woman's sheer strength and willpower had been beyond their wildest dreams. Their spiky-haired leader stood in front of her, panting with modest exertion, but still smirking with the assumption that he would gain the upper hand at any minute now. He drew his sword and motioned to the other men. They started to strip off their pants, laughing in lewd mockery.

Kaoru's muscles tensed, preparing her to execute yet another chain of Hatome and Hawatari despite lacking a weapon in hand. Her mind was already planning the next five moves to strike the rest where the sun won't shine.

The thugs barely heard the crash of windows when a scarlet blur knocked them all back, scooped the unbroken woman up, and took her to a corner behind the railing of the second floor. The figure stripped off his gi, covering her with it immediately. "Kenshin," she breathed, shocked but utterly relieved.

No sooner had Kaoru registered the identify of her savior than the men below began to pick themselves back up. They too, were not mere weaklings, but hardened yakuza.

Their leader rose and walked to the center of the floor with a swagger, casting a smug glance upwards. "Hey, hey, c'mon now, bring her back. We were just starting to have some fun."

Battousai turned and shot a glare sufficient to etch holes deep into the souls of common men, but the leader didn't flinch. He merely responded with a lecherous smile.

"You just sit back and watch. We'll shoot a hot load into _every hole_ that bitch's got."

Oh, they were _so_ fucked.

The last thing Battousai heard before his world turned red was Kaoru's voice begging him not to kill them. The wretched thug welcomed the plummeting ex-hitokiri with glee, his underlings already taking aim with previously concealed rifles.

But they were expecting to take down a man. Not a flame-haired demon.

Amber force slammed into them at god-like speed, a wild guttural roar spilling out of his lungs. His thunderous Ki rendered cracks on the floor and walls, leaving them with zero chances of firing, much less screaming. Battousai wasn't about to draw his sakabatou for at this point even its blunt end would have spilled their guts. His form seemed to rebound from one side of the room to the other, tracing a multi-pointed star with one doomed soul at each apex. Bare handed, he broke every single bone possible on their bodies that wouldn't be fatal, leaving a mess of shattered weapons and twisted flesh. The blood spurting out of their bodies drenched him.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Barely ten seconds later the raging fire had stopped at the center of the warehouse, hunched over and panting. His fists were still clenched, shaking. He really, _really_ wanted to rip them all apart. Bringing one strained hand to grip his face he repeated a mantra in his head over and over to regain some semblance of composure.

 _Breathe in, breathe out, just breathe._

He could feel the hotness of his breath on his hand, puffed out with pained forcefulness. With each intake of air the thrumming of his heartbeat in his ears lessened in amplitude and frequency. _Breathe in, breathe out..._

It took another three seconds to unravel all the clenched bundles of his nerves before he straightened up. He had to attend to his wife.

Upstairs, Kaoru was now sitting up on the cold metal floor with her legs tucked to the side, clutching his gi tightly closed around her. She didn't watch him wreck the thugs, but what had happened was just as apparent from the sickening crack of bones that came from below. She took in the sight of his form emerging from the staircase, backlit by the dim orange glow, the broad, taut muscles of his chest completely splattered. He hung his head as he stood with his palms open to her. All crimson. He didn't meet her eyes.

"They'll live," he said, quietly. "Are you alright?"

Keeping her posture firm, she nodded. "Hai. Thank you for coming to get me."

Battousai seemed to hesitate, but then knelt before her and finally looked into her ocean blues. He was expecting his wife to be repulsed and recoil in fear but instead, her eyes showed a soothing calmness, without a shadow of terror or disgust.

Kaoru reached out to touch his cheek. She had recognized the expression on his face, like that of a remorseful child coming up to his parents after breaking the precious family urn, filled with longings for forgiveness, love, and acceptance. She let him gather her up.

As he leaped over the rooftops to bring her home, she clung to him, ear pressed to his heartbeat, one hand stroking the back of his neck. The adrenaline pumping in her veins had drained away, leaving her with a heavy blanket of fatigue.

* * *

Moments later, the sensation of warm water coaxed the raven-haired girl back to the brink of consciousness. Through blurred vision, she caught fleeting glimpses of amber eyes that swirled with a mixture of abject worry and repressed rage. Yet, the hands bathing her were so gentle.

Her husband scrubbed grime and crusted blood away from her wounds with outmost care, making sure to induce the least amount of pain possible. The pure white of her skin that emerged was a stark contrast to his own face and chest, which were still covered in rusted brown. Kaoru's consciousness lapsed again.

Battousai lifted his wife out of the tub, swaddled her in soft towels, and proceeded to dress her wounds with the practiced care of an old soldier who had to tend to his own far too many times. He could've easily taken her to Dr. Gensai, but secretly, perhaps selfishly, wanted to take on the task himself. He didn't know that when she stirred slightly awake, she felt relieved about his choice. Right now, he was the only man whom she wanted to touch her, his loving caresses a far cry from the repugnant and crude brutality she was just subjected to.

When Battousai laid her down on the futon, now clean, bandaged, and warmly wrapped in her sleeping yukata, Kaoru automatically curled up into him. He was slightly taken aback. His wife had never been this unguarded around his darker side, but then again, perhaps she was only in shock. After draping a blanket over her, he sat next to the bed, watching her chest rising and falling. She was alive, at least, he told himself over, and over again.

But try as he might, his mood wouldn't lighten.

This was vastly different, and in fact worse, than the incident involving Enishi. At that time, it appeared as though the unthinkable had happened to her, but in the end she had been kept safe and sound all along. As he eyed the welts and bruises on her face and neck, his blood came to a boil again. His beloved had truly been injured. Almost violated out of her dignity. There was no doubt in his mind that she would be attacked again if he didn't root out the source and put an end to it immediately.

Kaoru slipped deeper out of consciousness. Judging by the thinness of her slumbering Ki, she would not recover until at least a full day has passed. He would leave tonight, resolving to be back by her side in twenty hours.

The ex-hitokiri went outside to splash himself with cold water, barely wiping off the soil from his face and chest, before donning the same gi he had given to his wife earlier. Then he locked and bolted the dojo gate, and jumped over the wall.

It was midnight.

* * *

Yahiko's snores abruptly stopped and he jolted awake. A strong, dark presence loomed in the shadow behind his room's window at the Akabeko.

It spoke.

"Kaoru was hurt, but she's safe now."

He barely had time to process the news.

"I'll be taking care of things. Make sure no one bothers her tomorrow."

The boy leaped from his bed and rushed to open the window. The shadow had vanished. Its voice was definitely that of Kenshin's, but he hadn't heard it carry such a tone and manner of speaking since that one night, a year and a half ago, whereupon it delivered a blood-curling threat of decapitation to Saito Hajime. Alarmingly, the level of fury seemed a notch higher in the voice this evening.

Yahiko's throat clenched in dryness and he found himself trembling a little, even if he didn't like to admit it. Something awful had happened, and his heart wrenched with worry for Kaoru, his mind flashing back to the sight of her lifeless doll in a burial plot. _Dammit!_ _No, stop it!_ He shook his head to dispel the thought. With Battousai personally undertaking the matter, he knew everything would be settled, no matter how gruesome the method.

He only had one job to do. He'd notify the dojo students and cancel all the lessons for today, and maybe for the day after too. Then the little swordsman resolved to give himself another task: to stand guard outside the dojo in the meantime, just in case.

* * *

Battousai notified the night-watch police curtly about the incident at the warehouse on the docks. They would arrive to find half-dead yakuza scattered on the floor, not a moment too soon to prevent them all from expiring.

He spent the rest of the day tracking down some rats. His senses had picked up fifteen men's Ki along with Kaoru's trail, but at the warehouse he had counted only thirteen. The remaining two would give him the answers. Battousai roamed the slums of Tokyo first, later expanding his search to nearby towns. It didn't take long before he smelled the terrified, cowardly presence of one.

It only took two blows to the head for him to confess.

"Please, oh gods, please… have mercy! Spare me! I didn't want to go along with it. It was Fujiwara-san who paid us off, I swear…"

Battousai's eyes widened. _Fujiwara…_

 _The name on the front plate of that mansion._

 _The wife-beating, child-abusing bastard he put in jail._

He slammed the thug against the wall so hard his teeth rattled. "Give me his _full name_ ," he hissed. The thug whimpered, then managed to choke it out, "it's Jurou… Fujiwara Jurou."

Battousai let him go and he sank down, blubbering. Within thirty minutes, the second rat was left much the same way.

 _Fujiwara Jurou_.

As Battousai blazed back to Tokyo he was gripping the hilt of his sword so hard it nearly shattered.

.

.

.

* * *

 _ **P.S.** : Honestly, I've always felt that Kenshin's rage completely unleashed would be one of the most satisfying (yet terrifying) things to witness, so I absolutely loved writing that part, even if it was so gruesome. Hope this chapter wasn't too terrible for you all. Please leave a review, and let me know what you think._


	7. Chapter 7 - Endless Abyss

**_AN_** _: I read a few chapters of Offerings to the Forest God and its beautifully flowing prose inspired me write in a slightly different manner, so here it is. We are almost at the end of our journey._

 _Hello darkness, my old friend  
_ _I've come to talk with you again  
_ _Because a vision softly creeping  
_ _Left its seeds while I was sleeping  
_ _And the vision that was planted in my brain  
_ _Still remains  
_ _Within the sound of silence_

\- Simon and Garfunkel, _The Sound of Silence_

* * *

 **Chapter 7 – Endless Abyss**

"H… Himura-san…"

The man to whom every Toyko district policemen answered to was stammering. His naturally squinted eyes were drawn shut even tighter than usual, and he raised a trembling finger to right the position of his small glasses. He cleared his throat. "H-how... m-may I assist you, tonight…?"

Four lamps beamed at each corner of his office, but the concentrated pool of blackness emanating from the figure before him appeared to thwart all attempts of illumination. There was an atypical amount of dishevelment in his appearance, with auburn strands of hair on the top of his head tangling and pointing in every direction, juxtaposed against ones plastered with sweat on his forehead and cheeks. More than anything, the piercing glow of embers in his eyes spoke volumes about his present state of mind, seeming to burn with the wrath of seven suns.

Chief Uramura tried to swallow again. The silence that had followed his words felt like the relentless prickling of a million needles on his skin.

"Take me to Fujiwara Jurou," finally came the reply, spoken by a voice both familiar yet terrifyingly foreign.

"Fu..Fujiwara?" Uramura's eyes opened ever so slightly, eyebrows cocked up high in surprise. "Ah, yes – the man you brought to me… almost a month ago… he's locked away in the basement cell, and yes… of course, I can take you, but… why…?"

Amber eyes stared unblinking.

"He sent fifteen men to rape Kaoru."

Uramura abruptly stood from his chair right alongside all the hairs on the back of his neck, and if it weren't for the support of his hand he would have fallen over his desk. The other covered his mouth staving off a sick wave of nausea. "Dear gods, Kaoru-san! Is she alright?!"

"Yes, she's fine now. I've taken care of the matter. I believe your men already retrieved the culprits from the floor of the warehouse." Again, with that cold, matter-of-fact tone. "I'd just like to speak to Fujiwara."

Pushing loosed eyepieces back to their place, the Chief nodded with grave understanding, head lowering. "I… I see… I'm truly sorry you've both had to deal with such a horrible event…"

He heaved with a sigh, and walked around his workbench to stand just shy of an arm's length away from his friend. At least, he personally regarded the swordsman as a friend, even if he wasn't sure the feeling was mutual. The selfless service the redhead had proffered throughout all this time, having shielded him and his family from that spine-chilling assassin, had left him feeling indebted and in deep admiration of the man. And yet for all these dreadful things to keep happening to one of such pure heart…

He straightened up a bit more, pushing some courage into his chest. There were many things beyond his control, but this simple thing he could do for Himura's sake.

"Then I will take you downstairs. Follow me."

Battousai barely nodded, and they both left the office, passing by policemen in the hallways who stood perspiring motionless in the wake of repressing dark energy that flowed from the ex-hitokiri. Uramura took out his bundle of keys but paused before he opened the heavy iron door leading to the jail. "Himura-san, if you please." He held his gloved hand out, looking almost apologetic. The smaller man eyed the Chief's open palm for a second, face expressionless, before removing the sakabatou tucked on his waist and handing it over. "Thank you. This way please, after you."

The stench of unwashed prisoners assaulted their noses as the two men walked into the center of the holding area with three policemen trailing behind them. Typically, the detainees would begin making a fuss to catch some attention by hurling insults at their captors, demanding one or more extra meals, and complaining about the various inadequacies of their desperate lives. This time they were all quieted. The short man with startling crimson hair coming through had a presence even the dirtiest crime lords of the underworld would've envied. Everyone stared as he made his way to the far back cell.

Jurou sat with head bowed and arms crossed, drool dripping out from a jaw that could not close properly again. His gaze rose up from the approaching tabi sandals scraping against the concrete floor to tattered browned hakama and sweat-drenched maroon gi, before locking onto amber eyes above a cross-scarred cheek that still carried traces of dried blood. He noted the absence of a sword on the redhead's side, and besides, there were thick iron bars interposed between the two them. His lips curled up, pulling the skin stretched across his crushed sunken cheekbones taut.

 _Perfect, just perfect_.

His face twisted into a fully sadistic leer, every muscle seeping with mocking taunt. His eyes conveyed what his mouth no longer could as he began cackling with delirium.

 _So your bitch must've been ruined, and hell, I bet she enjoyed it. How do you like that now, you fucking piece of shit?_

Battousai stood looming before the self-congratulating filth for a few seconds. When he did speak, the weight of the world's mountains came bearing down as the full capacity of his Ki shot right through the marrow of his victim's bones. Irate amber orbs flashing from viciously narrowed glare punctuated his judgment decree.

 _"Fujiwara Jurou. If you so much as CONSIDER laying another scratch on Kaoru, I swear on my sword to rain every torment of hell on all the shreds of your wretched, miserable soul._

 _MARK. MY. WORDS."_

There was no time to think. Jurou found himself with body slammed to the wall and breath sheared out of his lungs by a force so great it rattled the bars of all the other cells and knocked Uramura and the other policeman back, being the same one that had blown a hole in the forest. If he'd never believed in the Devil he did so now, heart seized with a crippling fear so intense it burrowed into every inch of his skin even as his sweat poured out like rivulets of blood. His bowels clenched together and dropped into a puckered pit, releasing their contents. "Uugghh….," he gasped, bloodshot eyes bulging out, as he sank down to a pool of his own piss and shit.

No one breathed when Battousai turned to exit.

* * *

The lights on the narrow corridor flickered and dimmed to acknowledge the power passing underneath. One step away from crossing the threshold into lukewarm night air, he paused. Uramura's footsteps catching up from behind echoed in the now disconcertingly-quiet building. "Himura-san," he said, voice tinged with apprehension and yet also concern. "Your sword."

Battousai moved to retrieve the blade and then raised his head to look the Chief in the eye with a question.

"The woman and her daughter. What happened to them?"

Uramura's shoulders slumped down in a second instance of pained dejection. "I'm sorry, Himura-san… but they are no longer in this world.

The child had died from brain damage despite Dr. Gensai's best efforts… and her mother took her own life shortly afterwards…"

A chilling wind seemed to blow from the open door, bringing some dust and crushed dried leaves inside while taking away the last of a fading glimmer.

Only the sound of silence remained.

With eyes shadowed and a weak nod, Battousai walked out into the darkness.

* * *

Tokyo samurai Myojin Yahiko stood tall outside the shuttered dojo gate, shinai strapped confidently to his back. He had fiercely guarded the residence and its precious slumbering inhabitant from sunrise till past sundown, though nobody needed to know that Tsubame quelled his hunger pangs with boxes of packed lunch and dinner. He heard the familiar frequency of sandals scraping on dirt ground approaching, and rushed in its direction at once. "Kenshin, you're back!"

The sight of his revered idol had always brought a surging leap to his young heart, but alas, not this time. The form of the man approaching resembled that of the broken figure he once found splayed at Rakuninmura. Yahiko's spirit faltered at the heaviness which spilled around them like a thick grey fog.

"What... in the world... happened?" he asked, face ashen.

The haunted figure came to a stop in front of him, putting a palm on his head. Their eyes met. The amber shade of the older man was the same as that which rained fury upon the Wolf of Mibu, but there was an inexplicable hollowness eating into them that made Yahiko visibly tremble.

"You did well. No one will attack Kaoru anymore. Go home and rest."

A faint crimson trail was all that was left after the figure vaulted over the wall, leaving the boy standing alone outside with heart hanging out of his chest. He didn't allow himself to cry.

"Dammit Kenshin, why won't you ever tell me anything?! Goddammit!" His cuss rang shrill in the still, empty air.

* * *

Water splashed and drenched the earth as Battousai heaved buckets of coldness over him. The sweat, the dirt, the blood. He had to get them all off.

The blood.

Even after scrubbing every inch of himself and donning fresh clothes, he could still smell it.

He was alone with his thoughts now, having sensed Yahiko's restless Ki lingering only a few more minutes after he had made himself scarce before the young man turned back with a frustrated kick to the ground.

Just him, and his darkness.

Up above, invisible clouds blanketed the moonless night, obscuring all traces of scattered stars. The wide expanse of sky stretched out as unforgivingly as an endless abyss of jet black, swallowing him whole.

The stench, it grated on him. The blood on his hands. He had to wash them again.

But why won't it come off?

...

 _…Bloodshot bulging eyes staring with a slack jaw, slumped on a pile of excrement…_

 _…Jagged bones protruding out of broken flesh from remnants of men lying in red…_

 _…The hollowed terror of a blue-black bruised mother holding a child with limp, sunken head…_

 _…The shard-embedded skull of a small body with warmth fading fast from his arms …_

 _…The stark naked, grime-encrusted body of his wife covered with slits, scrapes, and purpling welts…_

 _..._

He washed, and washed.

But the maddening reek grew only stronger.

...

 _…The exploded left ear of a man-child with throbbing gnarled veins spread all over his skin…_

 _…A lifeless form with his beloved's face and dripping cross scar stabbed into the wall…_

 _…An inflamed, disfigured beast scrambling and writhing next to the slain husk of a woman…_

 _…The heart-pierced muscle-bound form of a man staring straight up with crazed soulless eyes…_

 _..._

His fingers were seeping into thick dark liquid.

He had to keep washing.

...

 _...The silent cries of men falling underneath crimson arcs spurting from their bodies…_

 _…Severed limbs littering the ground amidst incessant clangs of steel…_

 _…The unbearable stench of bowels draping out into the atmosphere making his own stomach churn…_

 _…Frozen faces with mouths hanging open and eyes that did not have time to close at their end…_

 _…A man's corpse with knuckle-white grip on his sword and tears that bathed the street…_

 _…Plum blossom scent mingling with the reek of torn flesh gushing from a cold body lying in his arms…_

 _..._

As the deathly reverie played on, a thousand skeletal limbs came reaching out of the wash basin, their bony fingers closing over the lengths of his arms, shoulders, chest, and back - pulling him straight down, down into the depths. There he was again, in that place of skulls devoid of joy and warmth, stripped off from all semblance of humanity. His form shrank inside of itself, bringing knees to chest and holding them there with strained shaking arms. His ragged breath stilled.

 _"Back so soon, Battousai? Did you miss me that much?"_

Tattered bandages swayed in the absent breeze, trailing from a ghost with crinkled burnt skin surrounding eyes with pupils the color of blood.

 _"You didn't have to come all the way down here to find godforsaken demons. They're right there on Earth, walking in broad daylight on the open streets._

 _Right alongside you, the Devil himself."_

Shishio threw his head back and laughed in unbridled mockery.

 _"Look at all the worthless scums you've spared. Is this what you bled for? Spilled your tears and poured your sweat out for? Forget your fucking pathetic, childish ideals! You've known it from the day you were born into this wretched existence – the only thing that matters is the sheer demonic strength flowing through your veins. Stop holding back and slay them all to your hearts content. Make their heads roll. Bring them all to me."_

The words seemed to burn holes right through his mind. Those blood-borne eyes piercing the windows of his soul.

 _"Make it rain blood once again and then join me. Here, right where you belong."_

The distinct smell of iron ripped Battousai's tortured mind away from the underworld and he panted hard, cold sweat falling away from his face in pathways trickling through neck and chest. He stared down. There was real blood in the basin water. It was the fifteenth time he had washed and the skin on the top of his palms had broken while his shaking fingers swelled with stinging redness. He knocked the basin away, cursing at his own stupidity, and sat down with head in hands, choking on tearless sobs.

There was no one else left to brutalize, yet every part of him still blazed with anger. Anger at himself. At the world. At the fact that nothing will ever really change. That nightmares would keep waking to reality around his beloved. Because he simply _couldn't_ separate himself from violence.

She had begged him to stop on the night of his savage clash with the Wolf. Begged to prevent his violet eyes from disappearing in a gasp of amber. He'd thought he could leave it all behind that evening, locked away even tighter the day his lips spoke of parting words at the resting place of his first wife. Yet here he was again, and for what? He couldn't save even the littlest child in his hands, and had caved in to vengeful lusts that left men on the latter side of the verge between life and death. So how could he have ever yearned for her love?

The tears were finally streaming and the grip of his hands on his head grew tighter as if to will his mind out of existence. He _loathed_ himself. His infuriated, monstrous, tainted, dark self. He had tried to blot it out twice with earth-shaking implosions of Ki amidst the bamboo yet the only thing he'd accomplished was to induce a temporary memory loss, conveniently sparing his lighter side the pain of remembering what shattered in the dark. Tonight, there was no longer any point in going. At this rate, the ravaging force of his Ki would no sooner obliterate the entire town than to leave him unconscious for days or dead afterwards.

After all, no man could separate his self from himself.

Strange how someone so powerful could still be left so powerless.

A dry gust of broken leaves stirred in circle around him. His sobs receded to a hush and he remembered to feel the earth beneath his feet again. It was the twenty-third hour. He had lost track of time in otherworldly brooding and there was no way to reclaim what was lost, but for just a moment more his eyes remained closed.

 _…Kaoru kneeling on the porch with tear-stained face and arms that steadfastly hung open..._

 _…Arms open… waiting for him…_

His thoughts coalesced into the one conviction he knew was worth hanging on to.

 _I will never leave her side again. Never. I will not abandon her._

He didn't have the luxury of indulging in another minute of darkness. His injured wife still needed him and he had to be there when she awoke, no matter what she thought of his amber self. With budding resolve, the ex-hitokiri Battousai – no, Himura Kenshin – gathered the tattered pieces of his soul and returned to his marital chamber, leaving the ghosts to torment themselves.


	8. Chapter 8 - Embrace of Dawn

**_AN_** _: So here we are, at the end. I've uploaded this chapter along with the epilogue simultaneously, and I've also embellished earlier chapters to fit slightly better with the current writing style – if you're so inclined, do take a look and experience the journey all over again. It's amazing how much my writing has evolved in three weeks._

 _I will also be illustrating scenes from this fanfic in the coming weeks. I can't post links here, but it'll all be on my DeviantArt profile (Marc21). The cover picture for this story is one of my works._

 _Thanks for sticking around. Here we go!_

* * *

 **Chapter 8 - Embrace of Dawn**

 _Winding paths traversing through fields and plains passed below the steady shuffling of his feet, lit by the rising and setting of luminary arcs up above. The passing breeze whispered age-old tales of journeys without farewells and beginnings without ends._

 _Where was he? Where was he going?_

 _The verdant blades of grass that swayed in the wind yellowed in time with the fall of a fiery golden disc, turning ash white and morphing in form as shadows crept up over them. The crunch of leaves under his feet became the crackling of bones, piles and piles of them, a sea of ivory churning with viscous red as grotesquely grand as the river Styx._

 _Here, again? Has he not left it all behind? Is there not one to greet and torment his soul?_

 _Something was shifting. Tiny buds sprouting from the skeletal remains yielded thin curving stems that opened in petals of pure white surrounding his feet, the wind rushing in all directions to fill his lungs with an unmistakable aroma of jasmine. A tidal wave of water surged up from below, gulping the whole thing down and overtaking his form while somehow sparing his breath as he felt himself lifting weightlessly up._

 _The sky he saw through undulating mirrored surfaces seemed so blue._

 _Wasn't there something he had to do? Somewhere he had to be?_

 _Someone he had to see…?_

 _…_

 _…_

 _…Kaoru!_

* * *

With a gasp the swordsman's eyes flew open to behold the sight of sapphire orbs gazing bemused at him through the curtain of his bangs. His beloved's head was resting comfortably over a pillow, the curved nook of her arm tucked underneath. Her body lay on its side still snugly covered under a blanket.

He breathed, staring.

The corner of her lips rose up into a small smile. "Ohayo, Kenshin," she replied in soft sweet voice, though the darkness lingering outside betrayed the truth of a day unwilling to wake for another hour.

He frowned. His posture still sat leaning against the wall next to the head of her futon, one arm draped over the sakabatou angled between the floor and his right shoulder, just the way he'd left it before a debt of forty waking hours claimed due payment on his labored body. Mentally he cursed himself for falling asleep and failing to keep watch.

As his night vision adjusted he noticed dried maroon mottled on the bandage circling Kaoru's forehead, and bruises on her face and arms that had begun to fade but not yet disappeared. He reached out with linen wrapped knuckles to stroke the side of her head, but then stopped. Wasn't there carnage on his hands just moments ago?

Tender fingers closing over his own jolted him slightly. Kaoru brought his knuckles to press against her smooth cheek, still warm with a lingering smile. He blinked, staring into those blue eyes once more to ascertain the color of his gaze reflected there.

Amber.

So where was her fear?

Kaoru closed her eyes momentarily to sigh with contented breath, then pushed her blanket aside to rouse with a bit of effort, eliciting more surprise coupled with concerned alarm from her spouse. "Kaoru, please don't get up – you'll strain yourself!"

She merely shook her head and continued rising to her feet, hand pulling him along. "Mmm… don't worry Kenshin, I'm alright. I've slept for so long I've gotten more than enough rest by now."

She tugged at him, walking out while still in sleeping yukata. "Come with me."

The bewildered redhead was led a few paces outside their home to a spot on the riverbank, where luminescent dots traced slow hypnotic patterns hanging low over the reeds. Fireflies. The season was changing and there weren't nearly as many of them as at the peak of summer, but just enough remained to put on as captivating of a show. "They're so pretty…" she gushed to the wind.

Her hand continued grasping onto his while she stood with her back towards him, watching the trailing light show. Strands of her long raven hair reflecting the soft yellow glow billowed slightly in the cool air. He stood in silence, at a loss for words.

"Kenshin, you remember, don't you? This was where you'd said goodbye to me on that day , just a little over a year ago…"

He stared hard at the back of her head as though he could see it through to her eyes. Yes, of course he did. He remembered the sounds of her gasping sobs, and knew how she'd crumpled to the ground even when he couldn't bring himself to watch. He'd barely forgiven himself for this.

She continued. "I've chased after you ever since then, and I'm so glad I did. I couldn't be happier the day we arrived back here together, knowing now that you'll never leave again." Long fetching eyelashes bordered her lids as she looked down and to the side.

She turned around then, sapphire irises directing a bright loving gaze into his amber ones. "This time, I'll be the one to promise that I'll never leave you."

"So, I promise." She held up the pinky of her hand. Her eyes smiled closed with that affable sweetness.

He was wide-eyed and flabbergasted, unable to respond for a moment as he tried to comprehend her behavior and the meaning behind her words.

"Kaoru, what…? How… Don't you remember _anything_ that happened just over a day ago? Aren't you _afraid_ of me?"

He searched her eyes, finding still nothing but serenity.

" _I'd lost control_. I lashed out mercilessly in revenge at those men, crushing them with my bare hands for the despicable act they almost-"

His eyes narrowed and he gnashed his teeth at the memory of the rotten scene in that cursed building.

"You were attacked by _fifteen_ _vile_ _men_. You fought bravely and resisted but they would've spared no expense in doing every sick deed they could've pulled on you. They _deserved_ what they got and it would've been a lie to say that I didn't enjoy striking them all down at least one bit..."

His breath quickened and became shallower. He looked at her pointedly now, willing for her to understand.

 _Maybe it would've been better if we had parted ways back then…_

 _Do you not realize what kind of a man you've married...?_

"I was born into a bloodbath, put on the path of living by the sword and dying by the sword. I had killed countless lives back then and even now in atonement I've continued to wreck men's bodies with my blade, changing precious little, powerless to save the very lives I've sought to protect from suffering unto death. For the very reason of who I am I will never cease putting you into danger, and all this violence will simply _never_ _stop_ -"

Kaoru reached out to grasp both of his clenched fists, eyes urging him to say no more. She let him exhale out fractions of his seething anguish for a few seconds while stroking the back of his knuckles. A step of her sandals brought her closer till she was just a breath away from his face. The pools of her eyes held him with boundless compassion and concern.

"Kenshin… I know, for my sake, you were angry enough to kill those men, but the fact is that you didn't. You've always held back, you've given your everything for the sake of others, and you've never used violence senselessly. You are not a monster. To be infuriated by injustices is only human and it is one of the best traits about your enormous heart. Because you care _deeply enough_ to get angry."

She raised her hands up to cover his cheeks. "I'm prepared to walk this journey with you, and I know it's not without its perils. I will get stronger for your sake too and I refuse to be exploited as your weakness again."

Her gaze was just as pointed as his. "What we have together is worth _everything_. That's why… I'm never leaving you."

The tension in his eyes had not abated, pain replacing fury in the embers that had been stoked. He placed his palms over her hands to move them away from his face, eyes shadowed by his bangs.

"Even if you feel that way… I'd said something unforgivable to you. What I said about Tomoe… I…," he bowed his head, closing his vision tight. "I didn't mean that. You didn't deserve that. I didn't mean to hurt you…" He choked on the next words.

 _"I'm so sorry."_

The dam of his heart had broken.

Kaoru slid her arms over her husband's neck and pulled him tightly into her, stroking the back of his head as his grief leaked out over her shoulder. His arms hung tensely on his side, fingers digging into his palms, red creeping into the wrap over his hand where scabs tore open again from the clenched tension. He remained rooted on his spot, unwilling to collapse into the embrace of his wife that he felt he did not deserve. She clung on regardless, the force of his sobs shaking both their bodies.

There in the midst of the swaying trees and flickering lights, he was crying in front of the woman he loved for the first time. The air seemed to still to a hush in due respect for a man whose labored strife for the ages had yet to end.

Through the lens of her own tears, Kaoru thought she could see a faint mist begin to gather and coalesce before her. Its form took shape and grew into a figure clad in light champagne kimono, hovering a few paces beyond. It had hair and eyes as black as midnight, skin as fair as the moon and a pair of modestly painted lips. A faint scent of plum blossoms encroached upon her senses.

She recognized this fragrance. It had wafted from the veranda where Enishi once sat with an expression of boyish longing while overlooking the island's treetops.

Kaoru stared unafraid at the ghost of the older woman. As she held the weeping form of her beloved, the words flowed freely from her mind.

 _Tomoe-san…_

 _You were there for him in the darkest of nights._

 _You had seen the clear skies rising above the cover of his stormy clouds,_

 _and found the truest part of him under a rain of blood._

 _You were there when his soul cried out in anguish in the middle of the forest._

 _You loved every shadowed corner of his soul._

 _You had never turned away when he needed you most._

 _But… this shouldn't be your duty anymore._

 _It is mine now,_

 _and I have to learn to walk in your footsteps._

 _I promise that will._

 _Thank you, Tomoe-san… for everything._

In the span of a few breaths, Kaoru thought she could see the apparition closing her eyes, nodding slowly, and smiling that gentle, kind smile. The spirit drew back in a wisp, fading away into a soft diffuse light of fireflies that trailed glowing lines around the embracing couple. Her own soul reached out to fill the empty space with a degree of boldness and conviction she'd never felt before.

Her husband's sobs were slowing. The grip of tension released gradually from his frame, and he dared to bring his arms up to her waist as he exhaled the last traces of his sorrow on her shoulder. Kaoru let him pull away a little so that she could look into the tear-stained windows of his soul. She slid one hand down from his neck to rest over his heart and placed the other on his cheek, stroking the raised paths of his cross scar.

Softly, she spoke. "Kenshin, I'm the one who should apologize. I've left you feeling like you needed to hide away a part of yourself, like you couldn't be truly loved. I had been afraid at first, believing that the gentler side of you would disappear when your darker side took over, but that wasn't true. Even when you were still in the grip of fury, the night you brought me home from the docks, you loved and cared for me with the same gentleness and pureness of heart that I've cherished for all this time."

She reached up to plant a kiss on his forehead and eyelids before locking her eyes on his. "I know, now, beyond the shadow of doubt, that Himura Kenshin and Hitokiri Battousai are one and the same."

"You are my husband, Kenshin, and I will love all your colors."

An unblushing smile graced Kaoru's features making her face bloom with unparalleled beauty in his sight, and when her lips made contact with his all traces of despair melted away from his core. Slowly, Kenshin closed his arms around his wife and breathed her in deeply, daring to feel the weightlessness of relief. She only pressed closer, letting him feel the soft curves of her body on his. With cathartic freedom he kissed back, letting show the hunger of every withheld raw emotion, presenting the entirety of his full, complete self. A blinding surge was overtaking the gaping hole that had been left in his heart, filling it to the brim, cascading down and overflowing with Kaoru's sheer unconditional love.

The diffuse lights of the fireflies soon blurred against the creeping rays that spilled over the horizon, painting the sky in mesmerizing hues of violet and gold amidst a canvas of profound blue.

* * *

A conjoined figure stood silhouetted against the glow of white rice paper covering their shoji doors. The avowed life partners enjoyed an intimate embrace in the privacy of their chambers, foreheads and noses pressed close, arms wrapped tight around each other, mouths locked. Kenshin's fingers interlaced with the smooth silky strands of his wife's raven hair as their hot breaths mingled. Her hands trailed downwards to push against his collars, slipping the maroon gi off his shoulders. She pulled back to behold her husband's solid scarred form, firm as a tombstone bearing stains and splatters of the red and black of his life, having carried the burdens of a tainted profession scorned by society with nothing less than untarnished goodness and love buried underneath it all.

She dotted the skin of his neck and chest with the touch of her lips, hands feeling the taut fibers of his muscled torso as she traced a path from his shoulders to his abdomen. "Kaoru…" he breathed into her ear, sending a wave of shivers down her spine. She glanced up at his face, seeing the golden embers of his eyes burning with something other than pain and wrath this time. Knowing her husband was restraining himself for fear of reinjuring her wounds, she caressed his cheek with her thumb and looked at him reassuringly. "I'll be alright. You can come into me… with every part of you," she murmured in his lips.

His kisses grew ravenous and the grip on her slender waist tighter as he eliminated all distance between them, bringing her down to the covers to deliver a passion even stronger than that on their wedding night. When they collided, every inch of his hardened self found solace and home enveloped by her eager, luscious warmth. He moved with the ferocity of an uncaged beast that she sought not to tame, drinking with unquenchable thirst every drop of her sweet nectar. Their gasps and cries of pleasure filled the musty air that grew ever thicker with desire, leaving the pair of lovers to drown in intoxicating sensations that seemed to stretch out endlessly. The gush of his spirit at the moment of release surged like a waterfall that broke down every wall stemming its tide, flooding her with a sensation so electrifying she could feel it coursing through to the top of her head and the tips of her fingers and toes.

Perspiration bathed them as he laid over her, still panting, their foreheads pressed together once more. Bare skin on skin. Her touch had brought his body back to wholeness, clearing away the wilted petals, reshaping his ravaged landscape, scrubbing clean all the dark stains from his long-suffering, sacrificial heart. In her eyes he saw an ocean large enough to hold all the earth, heaven, and hell of his life. He kissed his beloved yet again and laid his head to rest on her chest, truly ensconced in peace for the first time, listening to the steady rhythm of life as she tenderly stroked the lush strands of crimson on the back of his head.

When they drifted away from the plane of consciousness, their hearts beat as one with a bond no force on Earth could ever tear apart.


	9. Epilogue

**_AN:_** _I poster this epilogue simultaneously along with Chapter 8 so don't miss that_

* * *

 _This maybe the night that my dreams might let me know_

 _All the stars are closer_

 _All the stars are closer_

 _All the stars are closer_

\- Kendrick Lamar, SZA _, All the Stars_

* * *

 **Epilogue**

The bliss of their dreamless slumber lasted barely five hours before vacant stomachs announced severe displeasure. Kenshin burrowed further into the nook of his wife's neck in a rare occasion of shunning the waking world, earning him her bemused giggle. A secondary growl from his beloved's stomach finally prompted him to rouse, arms trailing indulgently and deliberately along her smooth skin. He stroked the curve of her cheek with three calloused fingers. "Kaoru, you can stay here and rest a bit more. Let this one take care of the meal today."

The shihandai held on to his arm to prevent him from leaving the warmth of their union just yet, brushing his bangs aside to look into his eyes. The pair of amethyst staring back at her seemed to glow with a hint of amber, but the gaze was unequivocally him. Smiling, she cupped his face and kissed his nose. "It's okay, Kenshin, I know just the thing that'll hit the spot."

* * *

Thirty minutes later the couple pushed through a flap of noren proclaiming "hot pot" in large print. A familiar voice rang out in greeting.

"Good afternoon! Welcome to the Akabek- GASP! Kaoru-chan! Kenshin-san! How are you feeling?! Are you two alright?!"

"Oro?!"

"Eh?!"

Red-faced, the two quickly sized each other up as Tae scurried away towards them from the table she was attending, suspicious that something in their appearance might give away evidence of their most recent "physical activity." Realizing this was not the case, and that Yahiko must have acted the informant regarding recent undisclosed perilous events, Kenshin immediately gave a standard placating reply.

"Hai, Tae-dono, there is no need to worry. Kaoru merely had to display her skills to a group of rabble-rousers, but she is alright now, that she is."

"That's right, Tae-san, I'm feeling much better now!" Kaoru chimed in, flexing her bicep good-naturedly.

"Oh, thank goodness, I'm so glad to hear that!" Tae knew there was more to the story, of course, but simply went along with it and seated them before proceeding to fuss over her best friend, especially when she noticed the lingering marks of struggle on Kaoru's skin. There were also some bruises on her neck which could likely be attributed to a certain red-headed swordsman, but at this point, who knows?

"Whoa, Busu, you're alive!"

"Gasp! Kaoru-san!"

The little swordsman and his squeeze trudged over from the back to join in on peppering Kaoru with exclamations of concern, their faces simultaneously awash with much relief.

Moments later, a lavish pot of deliciousness appeared at the weary couple's table. Having been deprived of food for essentially an entire day and a half, Kaoru didn't delay another second before diving in, though she quickly caught herself and apologized sheepishly for setting a terrible example to her already uncouth pupil. They all laughed, and Yahiko didn't even give her a hard time. With deliberate intent, the shihandai picked up some choice meat slices and passed them into the boy's bowl. "Here, have some - Kenshin said you guarded me all day yesterday and did everything to take care of our dojo's schedules. So eat up, you deserve it!"

She grinned in her usual sunshine cheer, but her eyes yielded a little bit more. Really, she wanted to say, _thank you, Yahiko, you don't realize how important of a role you've played in our lives…_

Though her true thanks were left unspoken, Yahiko felt something warm and akin to home well up inside him. It spilled across his face for a split second, but with Tsubame watching, his pride promptly wrestled back the driver's seat. "Heck, yeah I do – you better not regret it Busu!"

"Maa, maa, Yahiko, if you don't learn to say thanks you may never benefit from such kindness again, that you won't," Kenshin chided playfully, which only earned a "harrumph!" in response from the boy.

They all laughed again. As the little samurai vacuumed up tender morsels and savory broth with a vengeance, Kenshin and Kaoru shared a private knowing glance, fingers intertwined under the table, smiling the truest smiles.

Ignoring a background of Tae and Tsubame's warnings regarding the hazard of choking, Yahiko watched from the corner of his eyes the way the couple's gaze seemed to reflect something much older and wiser than their years. He wondered if perhaps someday he would understand what transpired between them.

But in a way, that didn't matter, whispered his heart. They were all home again.

* * *

Billowing leaves of red and brown colored the air weeks later, as an ex-rurouni and his wife leisurely passed a bridge along the riverside, walking hand-in-hand. The clear night sky showcased a beautifully large and bright new moon, reproduced faithfully on the surface of the still waters. The couple settled down on a swath of sakura-patterned fabric draped over the grass for an indulgent session of sake and stargazing. The air would soon be too chilly to enjoy such occasions, so it was important to seize this chance while they could. Lying cuddled together under a thin blanket, they allowed pause in life to take in the vast array of brilliance spread throughout the heavens. Calls of river herons could be heard in the distance on this peaceful evening where few people lingered.

Kaoru's face was slightly tinged with pink from the few sips she had partaken, and Kenshin kept careful watch on how much she imbibed, knowing there could be dire consequences if a certain threshold was crossed. Side-by-side with heads touching, his left arm snugly wrapped under her neck and around her side, they hummed a dreamy tune from a theatre play they'd seen a few days ago, while their minds busied with counting the constellations. As a warm and comfortable buzz settled in, Kaoru draped her body over her husband's form and leaned across his chest to hold his face in her hands.

"Ne, Kenshin…" she breathed, bringing herself close enough to feel the puff of air from his nose on hers.

"Mmm?"

The raven-haired beauty brought her gaze up onto his and the redhead half-expected her to start mumbling incoherently, but much to his surprise, a piercing clarity shone from her eyes. In those depths of blues he realized that she was seeing through all of his layers and all of his selves, past and present, hidden and apparent, loved and loathed; the reflections of his amber and amethyst mixed together into a rosy hue inside a sea of sapphire.

She brought her lips mere inches to his.

"I love you, Kenshin."

He smiled a feeling straight from the heart.

"And I you, Kaoru."

When they kissed Kenshin felt like the stars above were falling to the Earth, shooting luminary streaks down all around him, onto him, through him. The light that filled every fiber of his being washed away all the darkness, leaving him a pure white. In this unconditional space, he laid himself bare to rest. Complete and loved.

* * *

When the rains came, young verdant shoots would spring up from the center of the bamboo forest. In time the clearing would be filled, holding out gentle shade for the little tuft of red hair that flitted about at play amidst their stems... hiding all traces of the story they once held.

.

.

.

* * *

 ** _Author's rambling post-script:_**

 _What started as something that should've only taken three short chapters turned into this. The story become much darker than I originally intended, but hopefully not unnecessarily so, and in the end I really liked where it went._

 _I wanted to write something that depicted real fights and struggles without needing any super-villains. After all, putting aside oppressive governments and brutal terror organizations, there's plenty of darkness and heartbreak in everyday life. And yes, I was disheartened when I read the news about Watsuki's arrest, which probably cast a shade on this story. In spite of it all, I believe we have to press on with love, hope, and courage; acknowledge mistakes, seek forgiveness, move on from our pasts, and do better. I think these are the true messages that shine unfailingly from the RK saga, and it is what I had hoped to convey with my little tribute._

 _My deep thanks for ChiChanz, who got me started by providing a skeleton for the first chapter, consistently encouraged me with valuable feedback, and inspired the ideas leading to what we have before us. Shout out to Ayezeur, a prolific writer here who wrote "Long Days of Labor" - a completely satisfying masterpiece that extended the canon, and serves as a true inspiration to me. I can only hope to write with such eloquence and poetry. (If you haven't checked out her works, what're you waiting for?)_

 _Again, if you enjoy fanart, I'll be posting more works at Deviantart dot com [slash] marc21_

 _Last and not least, many thanks to all my readers for sticking with me throughout. Please leave a review, let me know what you thought, I hoped you enjoyed the story as much as I did writing it. Cheers!_


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